By Iris Leung and Glenys Sim
July 18 (Bloomberg) -- Copper fell for the third time in four days in Asia on speculation demand from China, the biggest user of the metal, may be slowing.
China's economy expanded 10.1 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier, down from 10.6 percent in the prior three months and the slowest pace since 2005, the nation's statistics bureau said yesterday. Consumer prices rose 7.1 percent in June, slowing from 7.7 percent in May.
``China's economy is cooling down, and demand for copper may be affected,'' said Cai Luoyi, chief analyst at China International Futures (Shanghai) Co. ``Investors are cautious as there is not much good news in the market.''
Copper for delivery in three months on the London Metal Exchange fell as much as 0.7 percent to $8,105 a metric ton. It traded at $8,135 at 10:50 a.m. in Hong Kong.
Copper for September delivery on the Shanghai Futures Exchange dropped as much as 290 yuan, or 0.5 percent, to 61,830 yuan ($9,058) a ton, the lowest since June 20. The contract, the most active maturity, last traded at 62,240 yuan.
China imported 91,775 metric tons of copper and alloys in June, the country's customs office said July 16. That was down 19 percent from 113,074 tons a year earlier and 7.5 percent less than was imported in May. China is the world's largest copper user, followed by the U.S.
Among other LME-traded metals, aluminum was down 0.8 percent at $3,103 a ton, zinc fell 0.3 percent to $1,834, and nickel slipped 0.4 percent to $20,700. Lead and tin had not traded as of 10:36 a.m. Hong Kong time.
To contact the reporters for this story: Glenys Sim in Singapore at gsim4@bloomberg.net Iris Leung in Hong Kong at Ileung7@bloomberg.net
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