Reuters reported that London copper fell to its lowest in more than two months following a more than 4% drop in February with the outlook for demand hurt by disappointing economic data from China and worries over US spending cuts.
A government survey showed that growth in Chinese factories cooled in February to 5 month low missing market forecasts and underscoring the country's patchy economic recovery.
Ms Sijin Cheng analyst at Barclays Capital in Singapore said that physical trade in top consumer China remains quiet after the Lunar New Year but should start improving this month. The risk of headline related sentiment swings would climb next week as China's government ministries start their first meetings of the New Year.
She said that Urbanization is undoubtedly going to be top of the agenda because it is something the new leadership have been pushing. But she noted that investment may not be as commodity-intensive as in the past as social aspects of urbanization such as healthcare may be prioritized.
Three month copper on the London Metal Exchange had dropped 0.45 percent to USD 7,779.75 per tonne by 0326 GMT having earlier slid to the lowest since December 20 at USD 7,760 per tonne. Prices lost more than 4% in February posting their biggest monthly drop in four.
The most traded June copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell 1.59% to CNY 56,780 per tonne having declined to its lowest in three months at CNY 56,610 per tonne.
Asian shares edged down with sentiment burdened by worries over the economic fallout from Italy's political stalemate while the euro remained under pressure a day after notching its biggest monthly fall against the dollar in nine months.
