Copper sinks

Melbourne

London copper slipped on Tuesday to its weakest in almost a month as the dollar rose, while improving producer prices in China suggested it may not need to ease policy soon.

The dollar climbed to its highest in more than a week, amid growing confidence that the U.S. Federal Reserve could raise interest rates later this year after last week's better-than-expected jobs report.

A stronger dollar erodes the buying power of those paying for commodities with other currencies. From China, producer price deflation moderated further, adding to views that the central bank may be in no hurry to cut interest rates, after the country´s exports and imports fell more than expected in July in a rocky start to the third quarter.

A downwards trend in China's copper imports which fell sharply in July, could well continue, ANZ said in a report.