Copper lowers

Melbourne/Sydney

London Metal Exchange (LME) three-month copper was mostly flat at $6,688 a tonne following a 3 percent fall on Friday. Shanghai copper was off more than 2 percent.

Nickel led an across-the-board decline in Chinese base metals futures on Monday, pressured by last week´s selloff in London contracts amid profit taking and a flat outlook for China´s coppe demand.

London nickel and copper were also lower, extending Friday´s hefty losses. “We´re seeing some immediate follow-through selling, some on profit taking, from late last week,” a commodities trader in Sydney said.

London nickel hit its highest in more than two years last week, boosted by Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte´s anti-mining stance that was raising concerns over supply, and new demand for the metal to make electric vehicle batteries.