Copper swung between gains and declines in London as investors weighed concern about the outlook for Chinese economic growth against signs of continued strength in the U.S. housing market. China needs annual expansion of about 7 percent to double per-capita gross domestic product by 2020 from the level in 2010, Premier Li Keqiang said yesterday. That compares with more than 10 percent in the prior 10 years. Figures today will show the S&P/Case-Shiller index of house prices in 20 U.S. cities rose for a 14th month in March, economists said. “Base-metal prices are beginning the new week of trading largely unchanged,� Daniel Briesemann, an analyst at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt, said by e-mail. Copper for delivery in three months slipped 0.1 percent to $7,295 a metric ton by 10:16 a.m. on the London Metal Exchange. Prices dropped as much as 1.1 percent and added as much as 0.6 percent. Copper for delivery in July rose 0.3 percent to $3.304 a pound on the Comex in New York. The LME and Comex floor trading were shut for national holidays yesterday. The S&P/Case-Shiller gauge increased 1 percent in March, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. China’s economy expanded 7.7 percent in the first quarter, below economists’ forecasts and down from 7.9 percent in the previous three months. The government has a full-year target of 7.5 percent. Copper stockpiles monitored by the LME fell for a third session to 619,650 tons, daily exchange figures showed. They’re still up 94 percent this year. Orders to remove the metal from warehouses climbed 0.5 percent to 223,150 tons on bookings in the Belgian city of Antwerp, the first gain after three sessions of declines from the record high reached May 21. Lead touched the highest price since April 11 in London. Aluminum, tin and zinc rose as nickel slipped. To contact the reporter on this story: Agnieszka Troszkiewicz in London at atroszkiewic@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net

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