Copper slips as Greek jitters, summer slowdown weigh

Copper slipped on Wednesday in volatile trade as talks to avert a Greek debt default dragged on and concern grew over slowing China growth and a summer demand slowdown. Markets reacted nervously to a statement from Athens saying that creditors had rejected certain proposals from Greece, but an EU official later said there had been no breakdown in talks.
Elsewhere, daily London Metal Exchange data showed copper stocks fell to 311,475 tonnes, veering towards recent three-month lows around 308,000 tonnes. Shanghai Futures Exchange stocks are at their lowest since early January. "Clearly, inventory trends would support sentiment towards copper, but I still think it will drift lower. There's less corporate activity over the summer, which gives funds more scope to influence prices, and we know a lot of macro Chinese funds have bearish sentiment towards copper," Citi analyst David Wilson said. Three-month LME copper ended down 0.7 percent at $5,740 a tonne. Prices have mostly fallen since mid-May however, hitting a three-month low of $5,642.50 a tonne on Monday, mostly on worries over weak demand in China.
Refined copper imports from China fell close to 275,000 tonnes in May, down 12.4 percent this year, the latest data showed. Also, broker Marex Spectron estimates that speculators added 3,800 lots of 'short' or sell positions in the week to last Thursday, taking their total net sell positions to the highest since early April. On the upside, the US economy contracted less than previously estimated in the first quarter and growth has rebounded in the second quarter, new data showed.
Nickel ended down 0.7 percent to $12,770 a tonne, having hit its lowest since mid-April at $12,409 on Monday. The latest data showed LME stocks rose 750 tonnes to 459,438 tonnes, again raising doubts about tight supplies. "People want to be bullish on nickel, but until they see stocks start to draw (consistently) they don't feel they can be," said Guy Wolf, global head of market analytics at Marex Spectron. Lead ended down 0.5 percent at $1,878 a tonne. ShFE lead closed 1.6 percent higher on a pollution crackdown in China, which has reduced exchange stocks to their lowest since late 2012. Aluminium ended down 0.5 percent at $1,716 a tonne, zinc ended down 0.5 percent at $2,044 a tonne while tin closed down 1.3 percent at $15,175 a tonne.