Investors have taken profits after copper rallied on Monday above $7,000 a tonne for the first time since September 2014, said Danske Bank analyst Jens Pedersen.
"The Chinese data was on balance as expected," he said, predicting Chinese growth would slow into next year and prices would fall to $6,500 by the end of 2017.
COPPER: Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange traded down 0.4 percent at $6,960 a tonne in official rings, taking losses since Monday's high of $7,177 to 3 percent.
TECHNICALS: Support was at $6,900 and the Fibonacci retracement around $6,850-$6,865, said brokers Marex Spectron in a note.
CHINA ECONOMY: Growth in the world's biggest metals market looked set to accelerate this year after hardly skipping a beat in the third quarter, but efforts to cut risks in property and debt were beginning to weigh.
CHINA FACTORIES: Industrial output rose 6.6 percent in September from a year ago, faster than anticipated, while fixed-asset investment expanded 7.5 percent in the first nine months of the year, missing forecasts.
CHINA PROPERTY: Property sales dropped for the first time in more than 2-1/2 years in September and housing starts slowed, reinforcing expectations that robust growth is starting to cool.
PARTY CONGRESS: Investors were looking for signals of China's policy direction at a five-yearly Communist Party Congress which began on Wednesday.
CHINA ALUMINIUM: Aluminium output in China fell for a third straight month in September but remained on track for a record high in 2017 despite a government crackdown on polluting smelters.
OUTLOOK: "Production decreased only negligibly month-on-month ... If this means that the decline in production has already come to an end, this points to falling aluminium prices," Commerzbank analysts said in a note, predicting prices below $2,000 a tonne by the end of 2017. LME aluminium on Thursday did not trade but was bid 0.9 percent higher at $2,138 a tonne.
CHINA STEEL: Chinese steel output dropped in September from a record high the previous month as mills in the world's top producer cut output as part of a campaign for clearer skies.
PRICES: Nickel traded up 0.8 percent at $11,740 a tonne, zinc did not trade but was bid 0.5 percent lower at $3,106, lead traded down 1.1 percent at $2,495 and tin traded 0.7 percent lower at $19,950.