RTRS: India copper falls over 3 pct on demand worries, stocks
MUMBAI, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Indian copper futures extended losses and fell over 3 percent in evening trade on Monday, as mounting global recessionary fears heightened demand concerns for industrial metals, analysts said.
Demand worries continued to gather steam after a meeting of the Group of 20 major economies in Washington during the weekend failed to produce concrete measures to avert a global slowdown.
At 5.53 p.m., the benchmark November copper MCCX8 on the Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) was down 3.12 percent at 181.6 rupees per kg.
"Volumes are poor today but I see them picking up by evening. The trend for copper continues to be bearish and I see prices going down further in the evening session," said an analyst from a Delhi-based brokerage.
Data showing a 32 percent rise in Chinese imports in October from a year earlier failed to provide any support to sentiment.
"The rise is purely due to increase in arbitrage trade. Demand inherently has been weak due to the global crisis and I expect to see a fall in the next month import figures," the analyst from Delhi added.
Copper inventories in London Metal Exchange warehouses, which have been constantly rising over the past few weeks, rose 1,800 tonnes to 275,900 tonnes on Monday.
Copper is expected to correct from current levels and test 179 rupees, said Debjyoti Chatterjee, associate vice-president, MAPE Admisi Commodities Pvt Ltd.
In industry news, investment bank Macquarie said it had cut its 2009 forecasts for base metals, coal and iron ore by up to 60 percent to reflect the deteriorating global economic outlook.
Copper exports from Chile, the world's top copper producer, were worth $2.692 billion in October, down 28.6 percent from the same month a year earlier. [nN17481241]
Nickel, zinc and lead prices also fell on increasing pessimism about the health of the global economy and subsequent demand for industrial metals, analysts said.
At 5.57 p.m., the benchmark November nickel MNKX8 was down 4.12 percent at 528 rupees.
Benchmark November zinc MZIX8 was down 2.9 percent at 56.85 rupees per kg and benchmark November lead MLDX8 was down 3.34 percent at 63.6 rupees per kg.
(Reporting by Nandita Bose; Editing by Sunil Nair)
