However, last week’s strong US jobs data sparked fears of further rate hikes and boosted the dollar, which continued to rise on Friday.
Figures for Chinese metal inventories and ex-factory price data on Friday underscored continued weakness in the country, with stock markets and the yuan falling despite a rise in new Chinese bank loans in January.
At noon, the reference copper on the London Metal Exchange lost 0.6% and was trading at $8,930.50 per ton, accumulating a decline of 0.6% in the week as well. The increase in the prices of the metal used in electrical wiring is around 20% since the beginning of November.
“The market has rushed,” said Ole Hansen, an analyst at Saxo Bank.
Chinese demand may not pick up until the second quarter, raising the risk of a short-term price decline. Lunar New Year is usually a period of low demand in China and copper inventories at the Shanghai Stock Exchange tend to rise sharply, peaking around March.
Among other base metals, LME aluminum was down 1.1% at $2,472 a tonne; zinc was down 0.9% at $3,095.50; nickel was down 4.2% at $27,910; lead was down 1.4% at $2,096; and tin fell 0.7% to $27,550.