RTRS: India copper down on demand woes, firm dollar
MUMBAI, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Indian copper futures traded down on Wednesday as investors fretted over slackening demand and a strong dollar capped buying interest from other currency holders.
Copper prices, which traded at its lowest since April 2006, lost more than 29 percent in October due to fears over slackening demand on the back of the global financial crisis.
At 4.33 p.m., the benchmark November copper MCCX8 on the Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) was down 2.83 percent at 220 rupees per kg.
"Globally sentiment is weak because industrial metals are not finding enough buyers and this will not improve unless some demand starts trickling in from somewhere," said Pranav Mer, an analyst with India Infoline Commodities Ltd.
A U.S. downturn, and a third quarter slowdown of Chinese GDP to 9 percent from over 10 percent in the last quarter, raised worries of industrial metals demand outlook, analysts said.
China and U.S. are the top two industrial metals consumers.
The dollar, which soared to a two-year high, on Wednesday also dented investor appetite.
Selling on rise was recommended at 224 rupees with a stop loss of 228 and a target of 214 rupees, a senior technical analyst from a Delhi-based brokerage said.
Lead fell close to 6 percent on the day on slowing sales in the auto sector, the main consumer of the metal.
At 4.35 p.m., the benchmark lead for October delivery MLDV8 on the MCX was down 5.66 percent to 64.15 rupees per kg.
At 4.35 p.m., the benchmark October nickel MNKV8 was down 1.24 percent to 526.8 rupees, and October zinc MZIV8 down 2.01 percent to 56.05 rupees a kg, as the dollar weighed and demand softened. (Reporting by Nandita Bose; Editing by Harish Nambiar)