Copper slips, on course for biggest weekly drop in 2 months

BEIJING, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Copper prices fell in London and

Shanghai on Friday, extending recent declines following a

renewed plunge in global equity markets and another big rise in

copper inventories.

    The losses have put three-month London Metal Exchange (LME)

copper, which is now trading below the $7,000 a tonne mark that

had provided support so far in 2018, on course for a weekly drop

of 3.1 percent, its biggest since early December.

    In a note on Friday, ANZ said it expected the metal's recent

weakness to be relatively short-lived, however.

    "Risks of further supply disruptions remain high (and) the

restriction on copper scrap imports into China is likely to

support refined metal imports," it said. China is the world's

biggest copper consumer

    FUNDAMENTALS

    * LME COPPER: Three-month copper on the LME was down

0.1 percent at $6,837 a tonne by 0725 GMT, recovering from

$6,811 earlier in the session as the dollar gave up its early

gains. A stronger dollar makes metals more expensive for holders

of other currencies.

    * LME STOCKS: On-warrant copper inventories in warehouses

certified by the LME MCUSTX-TOTAL - those not earmarked for

delivery - jumped by 25,700 tonnes on Thursday and have surged

by 75 percent over the past three weeks.

    * SHFE COPPER: The most-traded April copper contract on the

Shanghai Futures Exchange closed down 1.2 percent at

51,560 yuan ($8,177.64) a tonne and has lost 2.6 percent this

week, the biggest weekly drop since September.

    * SHFE INVENTORIES: Deliverable ShFE copper warehouse stocks

grew by 13,537 tonnes from last week to 186,132 tonnes on

Friday, according to ShFE data. On-warrant copper stocks also

rose, by 17,911 tonnes to 70,077 tonnes.

    * LEAD: LME lead gave up early gains to trade down

0.7 percent at $2,506.50. With its recent rally to a 6-1/2 year

high running out of steam, lead is on course for a 6.5 percent

weekly fall, its biggest since December 2016.

    * ALUMINIUM: U.S. aluminium foil producers on Thursday

described a systematic effort by Chinese competitors to force

them out of the business, arguing before a U.S. trade panel that

they need anti-dumping duties to survive and invest.

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    MARKETS NEWS   

    * Asian shares sank on Friday, with Chinese equities on

track for their worst day in two years, as fears of higher U.S.

interest rates shredded global investor confidence.