Copper prices remained subdued during the Asian trading on Tuesday after China’s April industrial output and retail sales growth missed analyst forecasts, underscoring signs of an uneven economic recovery for the world’s top metals consumer.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was little changed at $8,271 a tonne, as of 0253 GMT.

It rose 0.2% in the previous session as a liquidity injection by China’s central bank bolstered views of sustained support for the Chinese economy.

The most-traded June copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange was up 0.1% at 64,910 yuan ($9,390.78) a tonne.

Data on Tuesday showed China’s industrial output grew 5.6% in April from a year earlier, marking the quickest growth since September but well below the 10.9% increase estimated in a Reuters poll of analysts.

Retail sales jumped 18.4%, accelerating from a 10.6% increase in March, the fastest since March 2021.

Copper prices rebound with China liquidity injection

Still, the sales jump was slower than the 21% growth that analysts had forecast.

Funds are turning increasingly bearish on copper as China’s manufacturing recovery falls short of expectations and growth slows in the rest of the world, Reuters columnist Andy Home said.

LME aluminium gained 0.1% to $2,262.50 a tonne, nickel climbed 0.4% to $21,705, zinc added 0.4% to $2,541.50, tin rose 0.5% to $25,125, while lead edged up 0.1% to $2,074.

SHFE aluminium rose 0.8% to 18,185 yuan a tonne, zinc dipped 0.5% to 20,825 yuan, tin climbed 0.5% to 200,500 yuan, nickel dipped 2.5% to 166,550 yuan, while lead was nearly flat at 15,205 yuan.

China’s April aluminium output fell 1.2% from March, data showed on Tuesday, as power curbs in the southwest limited the production of the metal.