Copperdown

Beijing : Copper prices fell in London and Shanghai, extending recent declines following a renewed plunge in global equity markets and another big rise in copper inventories.

The losses have put three-month London Metal Exchange (LME) copper, which is now trading below the $7,000 a tonne mark that had provided support so far in 2018, on course for a weekly drop of 3.1 percent, its biggest since early December.

In a note on Friday, ANZ said it expected the metal´s recent weakness to be relatively short-lived, however.

"Risks of further supply disruptions remain high (and) the restriction on copper scrap imports into China is likely to support refined metal imports," it said.

China is the world´s biggest copper consumer Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was down 0.4 percent at $6,818 a tonne by 0505 GMT, after shedding 0.5 percent in the previous session, as the dollar edged upward.