Copper declined for a third day in London on concern that Greece’s debt crisis may spread and as the Chinese government intensified property curbs. The metal for three-month delivery fell as much as 0.4 percent to $9,533.50 a metric ton on the London Metal Exchange and traded at $9,572 at 11:10 a.m. Shanghai time. Copper for September delivery on the Shanghai Futures Exchange dropped 0.5 percent to 71,150 yuan ($10,993) a ton. “Worries over the European debt crisis linger, especially whether it will spread further, which is weighing on the markets,” said Wang Ning, an analyst at Xiangyu Futures Co. European finance ministers revived the prospect of bond buybacks to ease Greece’s plight, struggling to contain the debt crisis as investors pounded Italy, the continent’s third-largest economy. Prodded by investors and the European Central Bank, the euro’s guardians said a bailout fund set up last year may be used to buy bonds in the secondary market or enable Greece to retire its debt at a discount. They offered another cut in rates on its emergency loans. In China, Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng said the city will start a trial to cap prices of newly built residential properties in planned urban areas in Pudong New District in the second half of this year, the Xinhua News Agency reported. “If the property market feels further pressure from the government, it is not good for base metals demand,” Wang said. Strikes End In Chile, contract workers at Escondida mine ended a strike yesterday after reaching a collective labor agreement, union umbrella group Federacion Minera said. Workers at Codelco, the world’s largest producer, held the first companywide strike yesterday in 18 years to protest planned job cuts as management revamps century-old mines in northern Chile. Mining Minister Laurence Golvorne said the government expected the strike to end as planned and production will resume from today. Anglo American Plc and Xstrata Plc are “normalizing” operations at their Collahuasi mine in northern Chile, spokeswoman Bernardita Fernandez said by e-mail yesterday. The mine was hit by rain and snowstorms last week. In Indonesia, Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. said it reached an agreement with a union to end a strike at its Grasberg mine that began July 4 and caused the suspension of copper mining and processing. The workers will report to their positions tomorrow, Eric Kinneberg, a spokesman for Freeport, said yesterday in an e-mail. Aluminum in London was little changed at $2,481 a ton, zinc rose 0.7 percent to $2,326.50 a ton, and lead was little changed at $2,676 a ton. Nickel was little changed at $23,249 a ton, and tin hadn’t traded as of 11:07 a.m. in Shanghai. --Helen Sun. Editors: Jarrett Banks, Ovais Subhani To contact the Bloomberg News staff on this story: Helen Sun in Shanghai at hsun30@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Richard Dobson at rdobson4@bloomberg.net

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