NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--July copper futures are expected to open floor trading around 7 cents lower Monday, based on electronic activity ahead of the pit session on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. In overnight activity, base metals on the London Metal Exchange traded lower in Europe, and market participants said the decline was due to a stronger dollar against the euro and lower equities. In other markets that have the potential to impact metals in the short term, the euro is down to $1.2961 from $1.3041 late Friday afternoon. In screen trading ahead of the pit open, the June S&P 500 futures are down 12.70 points to 854.10. May crude is down $2.64 to $47.69 in overnight activity. U.S. economic reports on Monday include the Chicago Fed nationally activity index at 8:30 a.m. EDT (1230 GMT) and the Conference Board index of leading economic indicators at 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT). In New York Friday, copper futures recovered from an early profit-taking pullback to finish higher, as the mood was helped by recently stronger equities and a consumer-sentiment reading. Most-active July copper rose 1.85 cents to settle at $2.1975. Inventories of copper stored in London Metal Exchange warehouses fell 7,300 metric tons Monday, leaving them at 462,325. The most recent Comex inventory data, released late Friday afternoon, were up 64 short tons at 47,608 short tons.

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