Copper slips as US-China trade row feeds risk aversion

LONDON: Copper fell to a three-week low on Wednesday as jitters over the U.S.-China trade stand-off kept up pressure on cyclical assets like industrial metals, already hurt this week by worries over political turmoil in Italy.

The metal clawed back some lost ground as easing concerns over Italy's political crisis led stock markets higher, but remained in negative territory.

China warned on Wednesday it was ready to fight back if Washington was looking for a trade war. That came after the United States, in a change of tone, said it still held the threat of imposing tariffs on $50 billion of imports from China.

Given those pressures, copper is sliding towards the bottom of its recent range, Saxo Bank's head of commodity strategy Ole Hansen said.

"The U.S.-China trade spat seems to be hotting up again after yesterday's announcement from the White House," Hansen said. "The global growth and demand outlook does not need a new political/financial crisis in Europe and a potential trade war between the world's two biggest economies."