Copper eases

Sydney

Copper eased in Asia on Tuesday, coming under pressure from investors looking to book gains after a surprise overnight lift in the London contract following a market-friedly French presidential vote.

"Copper gained some steam on the back of the French election, but that hasn´t held up in Asia," said a Perth-based commodities trader. Copper rose on Monday as centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron´s strong performance in the first round of the French presidential election boosted appetite for cyclical assets, sending stock markets sharply higher.

The most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange slipped 0.04 percent to 45,740 yuan ($6,644.)a tonne.

Mining company Anglo American reported a 9 percent rise in overall production for the first quarter of 2017 compared with 2016, but copper output fell 3 percent because of poorer grades and a temporary suspension at the El Soldado mine in Chile.