Copper prices fell on Thursday after two straight sessions of gains, as traders and investors reassessed the optimism in recent days on policy support in top consumer China.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange dipped 0.3% to $8,540 per metric ton by 0321 GMT, while the most-traded March copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose 0.9% to 68,820 yuan ($9,612.13) a ton.
LME aluminium declined 0.9% to $2,209.50 a ton, nickel dropped 1% to $16,485, zinc fell 0.5% to $2,570.50, lead shed 0.9% to $2,143, and tin lost 0.5% to $26,375.
SHFE aluminium declined 0.3% to 18,850 yuan a ton, lead dropped 1.7% to 16,370 yuan, while nickel increased 0.2% to 129,770 yuan, zinc rose 1.1% to 21,335 yuan and tin advanced 0.6% to 220,140 yuan.
China’s central bank announced a deep cut to bank reserves on Wednesday, a move that will inject about $140 billion of cash into the banking system and send a strong signal of support for a fragile economy.
That came after a Bloomberg report said Chinese authorities were seeking to mobilise about 2 trillion yuan as part of a stabilisation fund to buy shares onshore through the Hong Kong exchange link.
However, the slowing growth in physical consumption of nonferrous metals and mixed macroeconomic data globally put cap on further price rallies.