By Anna Stablum and Millie Munshi May 7 (Bloomberg) -- Copper prices fell, heading for the biggest weekly drop since January, on concern that Greece’s debt crisis may spread. Equity and commodity markets were roiled this week as concern mounted that budget gaps in Europe will derail global growth. Japanese Finance Minister Naoto Kan said the Group of Seven plans to hold a conference call today to discuss the crisis, signaling finance chiefs from the most-developed nations may see escalating risks to the world economic rebound. Copper dropped to the lowest level in 12 weeks on May 5. “The key concern is if the problems in Greece are going to spread,” said Dan Smith, an analyst at Standard Chartered Plc in London. “If you have a problem in Greece, that can impact European banks, which hold Greek bonds. Therefore, you get this knock-on effect.” Copper futures for July delivery dropped 3.2 cents, or 1 percent, to $3.085 a pound at 10:29 a.m. on the Comex in New York. A close at that price would leave the metal down 8 percent this week, the most since the week ended Jan. 29. Concerns over Europe have been “shocking” the commodity markets, Brian Hicks, who helps manage about $1.5 billion at U.S. Global Advisors in San Antonio, said on May 4. The Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index of 19 raw materials is down 6.1 percent for the week, heading for the biggest loss since December 2008. Jobs Gain Earlier, prices pared declines after a report showed U.S. employment increased in April by the most in four years, easing concern the global recovery is slowing. U.S. payrolls jumped 290,000 last month, the most since March 2006, the Labor Department said today. Manufacturers added the most workers to payrolls since August 1998. Copper prices more than doubled in 2009 as the global economy rebounded and demand for raw materials increased. “The jobs report was very strong, especially the manufacturing sector, which is positive for copper,” said Donald Selkin, the chief market strategist at National Securities Corp. in New York. “We should see some kind of stabilization in prices.” On the London Metal Exchange, copper for delivery in three months fell $138, or 2 percent, to $6,810 a metric ton ($3.09 a pound). Aluminum, nickel, lead, tin and zinc also dropped. --With assistance from Timothy R. Homan and Shobhana Chandra in Washington, Mayumi Otsuma and Kyoko Shimodoi in Tokyo, and Darren Boey in Hong Kong. Editors: Steve Stroth, Daniel Enoch. To contact the reporter on the story: Anna Stablum in London at astablum@bloomberg.net. Millie Munshi in New York at mmunshi@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Steve Stroth at sstroth@bloomberg.net.

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