By Francesca Freeman LONDON--Copper futures fell to their lowest level in three months on the London Metal Exchange Monday, as investor sentiment was rattled by mounting tensions in Ukraine and concern over the state of China's manufacturing sector. The LME's flagship three-month copper contract fell almost 1% to $6,950 a metric ton in early trade, its lowest price since Dec. 3. Tensions in Ukraine escalated over the weekend, as Russia tightened its military hold on the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea. This sent traditional 'safe haven' assets such as gold and the yen higher, while weighing on growth-sensitive assets such as stocks and base metals. "Developments in Ukraine could further rattle nervous markets and signal a spike in the geopolitical risk premium," said Tina Fordham, an analyst at Citigroup. "Alongside increased risk aversion, the price slide [in base metals] is doubtless due to economic data from China," said Commerzbank. China's manufacturing activity dropped to an eight-month low in February, to 50.2 from 50.5 January, according to HSBC's manufacturing purchasing managers' index reading over the weekend. China is the world's top consumer of metals like copper, which is used in everything from consumer electronics to household plumbing. Later Monday, attention should turn to the release of February manufacturing data from the U.S. "If, contrary to expectations, this turns out to be down -- which no doubt would be primarily due to the wintry weather in the U.S. -- this would put additional pressure on metal prices," said Commerzbank. In other base metals Monday, aluminum was 1.5% lower at $1,727.75 a ton, zinc was down 1% at $2,052.75 a ton, nickel was 0.6% lower at $14,630 a ton, lead was down 1.3% at $2,108 a ton and tin was 2.4% lower at $22,980 a ton.

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