Copper declined for the first time in four days as the dollar rallied from a six-week low against the euro and most Asian equities slumped, eroding demand for industrial metals. Three-month delivery copper lost as much as 1.2 percent to $6,527.75 a metric ton on the London Metal Exchange and traded at $6,535 at 11:09 a.m. in Shanghai. Most Asian stocks fell after U.S. service industries expanded more slowly than estimated, adding to signs the recovery in the world’s biggest economy is faltering. “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 was little changed at $2.9690 a pound on the Comex in New York after gaining 1.9 percent yesterday. The dollar was at $1.2607 per euro from $1.2626 yesterday, when it dropped to $1.2662, the weakest level since May 21. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.8 percent to 112.92 as of 11:12 a.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. 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 above 50 signal expansion. 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 named 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 was little changed at 52,200 yuan ($7,699) a ton on the Shanghai Futures Exchange by the 11:30 a.m. local time break. Shanghai aluminum was also little changed at 14,925 yuan and zinc fell 1.1 percent to 15,225 yuan. Aluminum for three-month delivery in London lost 1 percent to $1,975 a ton after advancing 3 percent yesterday, zinc fell 1.3 percent to $1,826 and lead was unchanged at $1,760 a ton. Nickel advanced 0.5 percent to $19,000 a ton and tin climbed 0.6 percent to $17,700. To contact the reporter on this story: Jae Hur in Tokyo at jhur1@bloomberg.net

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