SHANGHAI (Dow Jones)--Copper fell on the Shanghai Futures Exchange Monday on the back of economic data last week and after the Communist Party leadership kept its stance unchanged on next year's fiscal and monetary policies. An agreement between the 17 countries in the euro-zone after the closely watched European Union summit last week failed to encourage Chinese investors, as they were more concerned about domestic economic growth and how the situation in Europe would ultimately impact China's export sector. The benchmark February copper contract lost 0.6% to settle at CNY56,970 a metric ton. After a brief uptick at the opening, the red metal fell in tandem with Chinese equity markets, as market participants were disappointed in a report that authorities have no immediate plans to loosen monetary policy. The state-controlled Xinhua news agency Friday quoted the Politburo as saying China would maintain its "prudent" monetary policy and an "active" fiscal policy, and that it would "fine-tune policies in light of changes in economic developments." "Coupled with the economic data released last week, which showed weak exports and fixed-asset investment, that statement did nothing to shore up investor confidence," said Everbright Securities Futures analyst Xu Yongqi. Meanwhile, the deal European leaders reached Friday "seemed to have limited impact on resolving the region's short-term problems, and honestly I don't think it delivered anything substantial other than that it may aid the euro zone's future integration," said a Shanghai-based trader at an international firm. An on-month rise in China's November copper imports seemed to have a muted impact on copper prices Monday, as the number was within market expectations, analysts said. "China still needs to use copper, regardless of a slowing economy, so it's not surprising to see copper imports rise after a slump earlier this year. Plus, domestic production has been declining since August; that also helped demand for imports," said Xu. China imported 452,022 metric tons of copper, copper alloy and semifinished products in November, an increase of 29% from a year earlier and a rise of 18% from October, preliminary data provided by the General Administration of Customs showed Saturday. In the January-November period, imports declined 9.7% to 3.56 million tons, Customs said. Traders said copper may still face downward pressure on the back of pessimism about demand growth in the face of persistent concern over euro-zone debt, which wasn't dispelled by the EU summit. Copper traded at the Changjiang Nonferrous Metals Trading Market, a major spot metals market in Shanghai, was quoted at CNY57,450/ton-CNY57,600/ton compared with CNY57,750/ton-CNY57,900/ton Friday. Three-month LME copper ended Friday's PM kerb $115 higher at $7,815/ton. It was quoted 1.5% lower at $7,697/ton around 0700 GMT, when the SHFE closed. Benchmark aluminum and lead settled steady, while zinc edged lower. Monday's settlement prices in yuan a metric ton and LME late kerb prices from Friday in dollars a ton: SHFE LME Copper Feb 56,970 Dn 320 3Mo 7,815 Up 115.0 Aluminum Mar 16,095 Dn 10 3Mo 2,065 Up 1.0 Zinc Feb 15,595 Dn 40 3Mo 2,002 Up 18.0 Lead Jan 15,650 Up 20 3Mo 2,165 Up 62.0 -Yue Li contributed to this article; Dow Jones Newswires; (8621) 6120 1200; yue.li@dowjones.com

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