Copper declined for the first time in four days as the dollar rose from a six-week low against the euro and most Asian shares fell, paring industrial metals demand. Three-month delivery copper lost as much as 1.3 percent to $6,521 a metric ton on the London Metal Exchange and traded at $6,540 at 3:13 p.m. in Shanghai. Asian stocks fell after U.S. service industries expanded more slowly than estimated, adding to concern the global recovery will weaken. “The dollar’s rebound and lower equities stoked a kind of technical adjustment in copper,” said Hironobu Yamamura, a trader at Sumitomo Corp.’s commodity business department. Copper for September delivery declined 0.5 percent to $2.9565 a pound on the Comex in New York after gaining 1.9 percent yesterday. The Institute for Supply Management’s index of U.S. non- manufacturing businesses, which make up about 90 percent of the economy, fell to 53.8 in June from 55.4 the previous month. The June figure was less than the median forecast of 55 in a Bloomberg News survey. Readings of more than 50 signal expansion. The dollar was at $1.2589 per euro from $1.2626 yesterday, when it dropped to $1.2662, the weakest level since May 21. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.7 percent to 113.09 as of 2:55 p.m. Shanghai time. The gauge has fallen 13 percent from its high this year on April 15 on concern Europe’s debt crisis and Chinese steps to curb property prices will hurt global growth. Strike, Stockpiles Still, a strike at a copper smelter in Chile and dwindling LME stockpiles are limiting further losses in copper, Sumitomo’s Yamamura said. Stockpiles tracked by the LME dropped 0.6 percent yesterday to 441,700 tons, the lowest level since Dec. 1. Bookings to remove copper from LME warehouses, which last week reached the highest level in almost four months, increased 2.7 percent to 34,225 tons. Codelco contract workers at the Ventanas copper smelter in Chile went on strike yesterday after failing to reach an accord over pay, a union official said. The strike by more than 100 workers disrupted deliveries to ports, said Luciano Huerta, the treasurer of Chile’s Copper Workers Confederation, known as CTC. The smelter in central Chile is operating normally during the strike, said a Codelco official, who can’t be identified because of company policy. Ventanas, one of Codelco’s six divisions, produced 384,819 tons of refined copper last year. The metal for October delivery fell 0.2 percent to close at 52,130 yuan ($7,692) a ton on the Shanghai Futures Exchange. Shanghai aluminum declined 5 yuan to 14,910 yuan and zinc fell 1.3 percent to 15,195 yuan. Aluminum for three-month delivery in London lost 1.2 percent to $1,971.25 a ton after advancing 3 percent yesterday, zinc fell 1.4 percent to $1,824 and lead dropped 1.2 percent to $1,758 a ton. Nickel slumped 0.5 percent to $18,800 a ton and tin fell 1.4 percent to $17,350. To contact the reporter on this story: Jae Hur in Tokyo at jhur1@bloomberg.net

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