Copper declined for the first time in five days on concern muted buying in the Chinese physical market may signal a slowdown in demand from the biggest consumer. Other industrial metals also fell. The metal for three-month delivery on the London Metal Exchange dropped as much as 2.3 percent to $7,324 a metric ton and traded at $7,330 by 3 p.m. Shanghai time. It earlier climbed to $7,503.50 a ton, the highest level since Sept. 28. The LME Index of the six base metals as of yesterday had largest three- day rise in two years after the leaders of France and Germany pledged a plan to stem Europe’s debt crisis in three weeks. “Buying on the local physical market wasn’t really active yesterday, indicating the overall sentiment is still wary in spite of the rally in London,” said Wang Jingjing, an analyst at Founder Futures Co. “There wasn’t a really a boom in the physical market in spring, and as the overall economy slows down, it is even less likely in the fall.” Copper for immediate delivery in Shanghai’s Changjiang market was traded around par today against the front-month futures contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange. China consumes about 40 percent of the metal used in cables, pipes and wires. December-delivery futures on the exchange closed 0.5 percent lower at 54,210 yuan ($8,517) a ton at 3 p.m. local time. If the arbitrage trade at the end of last month does result in more supplies in October and November, the physical market may find it difficult to absorb the metal, Wang said. ‘Wait and See’ “Despite slightly better sentiment, volumes still appear to be light, as investors wait-and-see whether European policymakers are able to deliver viable plans to overcome its debt crisis,” said Natalie Robertson, a commodity analyst at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. in a report today. European leaders postponed a debt-crisis summit amid opposition to German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s drive for deeper-than-planned writedowns of Greek bonds. The Oct. 18 meeting was delayed to Oct. 23 as the region gropes toward a master plan for dealing with Greece’s oversized debt. Aluminum dropped 1.2 percent to $2,232.50 a ton. Demand for the metal used cans and cars may climb by 8 percent to 10 percent over the next three to five years on buying from Asia, led by China, Philip Martens, chief executive officer of Novelis Inc. said in an interview today in Seoul. Prices may be “moderate” in a range between $2,300 and $2,500 per ton over the next six months, Martens said. Zinc fell 0.7 percent to $1,936 a ton, nickel lost 0.8 percent to $19,235 a ton, and lead declined 0.7 percent to $1,991.75 a ton. Tin climbed 0.7 percent to $23,200 per ton. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Richard Dobson at rdobson4@bloomberg.net

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