Azernews.Az

By Bloomberg

Copper and zinc fell for the first time in three days after China reported the slowest consumer inflation in more than four years, indicating that demand for the metal is weakening in the world's biggest consumer.

Copper lost as much as 0.5 percent after closing at a three-week high yesterday and zinc fell as much as 0.9 percent. The consumer-price index rose 1.6 percent in September, below estimates for a 1.7 percent gain, after August's 2 percent increase, the National Bureau of Statistics said today. A measure of producer prices, which hasn't shown an increase since January 2012, dropped more than forecast. The Chinese data follow euro-area factory output that missed analyst estimates.

"The inflation number is very, very low," said Tetsu Emori, a senior fund manager at Astmax Asset Management Inc. in Tokyo. "It seems the demand side is much weaker than we expected."

Copper for delivery in three months on the London Metal Exchange fell 0.4 percent to $6,770 a metric ton at 3:11 p.m. in Hong Kong. Zinc retreated 0.8 percent to $2,329.75 a ton.

In New York, copper futures for December delivery slid 0.5 percent to $3.074 a pound while in Shanghai metal for the same month gained 0.5 percent to close at 48,330 yuan ($7,889) a ton.

Tin in London climbed after closing yesterday at the lowest since July 2013. Tin exports from Indonesia, the top supplier, may drop 30 percent this quarter from a year ago to 16,000 tons, the lowest in more than a year, according to a Bloomberg survey.

On the LME, aluminum fell while nickel rose. Lead was unchanged.