Copper in London dropped for a second day as the weakest U.S. jobs growth in nine months and concern that rising inflation in China may prompt Beijing to continue tightening monetary policies dimmed the demand outlook. Three-month copper fell as much as 0.5 percent to $9,613.50 a metric ton on the London Metal Exchange, and traded at $9,645 at 4:11 p.m. Shanghai time. The metal for delivery in September on the Comex in New York dropped 0.6 percent to $4.3840 a pound. “The U.S. employment data disappointed the market,” said Jia Zheng, a trader at Shanghai East Asia Futures Co. “There is also a growing concern that the elevated inflation may not come down in the next couple of months, so the tightening policies may continue, adding pressure to the market.” American employers added jobs at the slowest pace in nine months in June, increasing payrolls by 18,000 workers, less than the most pessimistic forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of economists, which called for growth of 105,000. The unemployment rate unexpectedly climbed to 9.2 percent. China’s consumer prices rose to a three-year high of 6.4 percent in June, the National Bureau of Statistics said on July 9, exceeding the 6.2 percent median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of 19 economists. The world’s second-biggest economy is already cooling after the government curbed lending by boosting lenders’ reserve requirements to a record and raising interest rates five times since September, most recently on July 6. The nation’s gross domestic product may have risen 9.3 percent in the second quarter from a year ago, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey, down from 9.7 percent the previous quarter. The data scheduled for release on July 13 may show the economy grew the least in almost two years. China Demand Copper imports by China gained 10 percent to 280,009 tons last month from 254,738 tons in May, the General Administration of Customs said on its website yesterday. This was the first increase in three months as buying from overseas became profitable and supply tightened after consumers drained local stockpiles in the world’s largest consumer. Scrap copper imports in June totaled 420,000 tons, up from 400,000 tons in May, customs data showed. Copper for September delivery on the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed 0.6 percent lower at 71,470 yuan ($11,053). Aluminum in London fell 0.9 percent to $2,513 a ton, zinc dropped 0.3 percent to $2,348 a ton, and lead slid 1 percent to $2,692.25 a ton. Nickel dropped 0.5 percent to $23,770 a ton, and tin was little changed at $26,825 a ton at 4:14 p.m. in Shanghai. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Richard Dobson at rdobson4@bloomberg.net

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