(Recasts, updates prices and comments, previous SINGAPORE)
By Humeyra Pamuk
LONDON, April 8 (Reuters) - Copper dropped to a one-week low on Thursday in the absence of fresh impetus to keep its rally going and on doubt by investors that supply and demand fundamentals justified prices around $8,000 a tonne.
Copper for three-months delivery on the London Metal Exchange fell to $7,825 a tonne, its lowest since April 1 and was at $7,835.50 a tonne by 1001 GMT, versus Wednesday's close of $7,945 a tonne.
The metal, used in construction and wiring, touched $8,010 a tonne earlier this week, its highest since August 2008 and around $1,000 away from an all-time high of $8,940 a tonne struck in July 2008.
"It's probably moved too fast and too soon," analyst Carl Firman at Virtual Metals said. "Demand from OECD countries is improving and Chinese demand is still robust -- but not a lot has changed and we've seen such a big move in price," he said.
Firman added that macroeconomic data from U.S. and announcements from European Central Bank (ECB) on Thursday would be watched closely while imports data from the world's top copper consumer China, due later in the week, would also be key.
March imports of unwrought and semi-finished copper products in China likely stayed flat or fell slightly from a month ago as margins for profit-driven spot inflows sank.
The market has piled up positions for betting on expectations for next year, Firman said.
"Copper's got extremely positive fundamentals going forward and a lot of this price is built on expectations for tighter conditions in the medium term."
At the CRU/CESCO conference in Chile, the chief executive of Freeport-McMoRan seemed to support Firman's view, saying he was not ready to go all out on expansions until demand had recovered in most of the world, but he remained "enormously enthusiastic" about copper's long-term outlook.
COPPER DEFICIT FORECAST
A Reuters poll of 13 analysts predicted the copper market would see a deficit of around 23,000 tonnes in 2010.
In the January survey expectations were for a surplus of 115,000 tonnes.
Traders said the new range for copper is around $7,300 a tonne to $8,000 a tonne, from $6,700 a tonne to $7,400 a tonne.
In other metals, nickel also slipped to its lowest in over a week at $24,269 a tonne and last traded at $24,400 a tonne from $24,725, but was still the strongest performer of the year with a 31 percent rise since January.
Nickel's price prospects look undimmed, analysts say, on the back of supply tightness and a recovery in the stainless steel industry, which accounts for about two thirds of nickel demand.
Nickel stocks at LME warehouses dropped by 342 tonnes to 155,670 tonnes, their lowest since late December and down by 6.5 percent since hitting a record high of 166,476 tonnes in early February.
On Thursday, cancelled warrants -- material earmarked for delivery -- rose to 6,366 tonnes, their highest level so far this year, with 3,324 tonnes of cancellations having come through this week.
Zinc was at $2,363.50 from Wednesday's $2,400 and battery material lead was at $2,260 from $2,290. Tin was at $18,580 a tonne from $18,575. Aluminium fell to $2,333 a tonne from $2,352. Metal Prices at 1001 GMT Metal Last Change Percent Move End 2009 Ytd Percent
move COMEX Cu 359.20 0.00 +0.00 332.75 7.95 LME Alum 2330.00 -22.00 -0.94 2230.00 4.48 LME Cu 7842.00 -103.00 -1.30 7375.00 6.33 LME Lead 2254.00 -36.00 -1.57 2432.00 -7.32 LME Nickel 24350.00 -375.00 -1.52 18525.00 31.44 LME Tin 18520.00 -55.00 -0.30 16950.00 9.26 LME Zinc 2356.00 -44.00 -1.83 2560.00 -7.97 SHFE Alu 16630.00 -155.00 -0.92 17160.00 -3.09 SHFE Cu* 61800.00 -950.00 -1.51 59900.00 3.17 SHFE Zin 19025.00 -465.00 -2.39 21195.00 -10.24 ** 1st contract month for COMEX copper * 3rd contract month for SHFE AL, CU and ZN SHFE ZN began trading on 26/3/07 (Additional reporting by Nicholas Trevethan; editing by James Jukwey)
