Metals-Copper slips on weak Chinese data, but losses capped by supply worries

LME lead CMPB3 lost 0.9% to $1,849 a ton, its weakest since April 2025 after further inflows of metal to LME warehouses in Singapore. Over two days, LME stocks have surged by 58% to 456,575 tons, the highest since at least 1970, LSEG data shows.

Among other metals, LME aluminium CMAL3 fell 0.9% to $3,149 a ton, zinc CMZN3 dropped 1.2% to $3,557, nickel CMNI3 lost 0.7% to $16,885 and tin CMSN3 shed 1.4% to $53,060.

($1 = 6.7710 Chinese yuan renminbi)

Copper prices edged lower on Wednesday after disappointing economic data in top metals consumer China, but supply concerns due to mine disruptions and the Middle East conflict helped limit losses.

Benchmark three-month copper CMCU3 on the London Metal Exchange lost 0.2% to $13,612 a metric ton by 1430 GMT, after hitting a three-week peak in the previous session.

GDP growth in the world's second-largest economy China cooled to a 3.5-year low, missing forecasts on weak domestic demand, official data showed.

"The economic data from China was a bit of disappointment, so that could be what's being reflected in the softness today," said Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank in Copenhagen.

But the downside was limited partly due to persistent supply issues, Hansen added.

The most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange SCFcv1 pared back earlier gains, ticking 0.1% higher to 104,220 yuan ($15,392.11) a ton.

Rio Tinto RIO.L posted a 7% fall in copper output in the June quarter and said a furnace outage at its U.S. Kennecott mine is expected to affect production in the second half, while first-half copper output at Antofagasta ANTO.L fell 9.5%.