By Laura Clarke LONDON--The price of copper, which has fallen 10% in 2014, sank again Monday to its lowest price in over eight months amid concerns about demand from top consumer China. The red metal shed nearly 4% Friday after the first default in China's corporate-bond market. This was compounded by weekend data that showed China's exports in February fell 18.1% from a year earlier, far below expectations for a 5.0% increase. Some analysts reasoned that distortions due to the Lunar New Year holidays could have affected export volume. Nonetheless, the figures had important implications for economic growth in the nation, which accounts for 40% of the global demand for copper. "Concerns over China and the high levels of stocks in the country seem to be behind the weakness," said William Adams, head of research at FastMarkets. "The rout...has flowed into the other base metals including the likes of nickel and aluminium, which were being boosted by concerns over the potential for disruption to Russian supply should sanctions be imposed," he said. Three-month copper was 1.7% down from Friday's closing price, at $6,669.25 per metric tonne, having earlier hit its lowest price since June 2013 at $6,608 per tonne. Three-month zinc fell 2% to $2,016.75 per tonne, while aluminum fell 1.4% to $15,078 per tonne. Lead prices gave up 1.6%, trading at $2,063.50, while tin was the only metal to rise, climbing 0.2% to $22,915 per tonne. Market watchers debated whether copper's losses had further to go. FastMarkets and Newedge both said the rout had left the red metal looking oversold. "From a technical perspective, the copper price looks in poor shape following its price slide - were it to dip below last June's low [$6,602/tonne], follow-up selling could be the result," said Commerzbank in a note to clients. "In fundamental terms, on the other hand, the global copper market is fairly tight, meaning there is no long-term justification for low prices."

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