By Laura Clarke LONDON--Copper fell again on the London Metal Exchange Wednesday, although some analysts said the jitters that had sent prices sharply lower in recent sessions may be exaggerated. LME 3-month copper fell 1% in early trade, to its lowest price since July 2010 at $6,376.25 per tonne. Year-to-date, copper has given up over 13% of its price, with much of that occurring since Friday. Analysts attribute this most recent slide to intensifying fears about the future of demand from China, which accounts for 40% of the world's copper demand. The first corporate bond default in its modern history, disappointing trade and manufacturing figures and weakness in the renminbi have soured sentiment in the copper market. "Economic jitters in China always adds volatility to copper," noted VTB Capital analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov in a note to clients. "China's February trade data this week was the last straw to nervous LME longs." Concerns about credit conditions in China also spurred concerns that financing deals using copper as collateral may lose popularity, removing a source of demand. Richard Fu, Newedge director of Asian commodity trading, said bearish factors might have been exaggerated. "Fear is still haunting the copper market. But...the metal might have been oversold in huge volumes," he said in a note. "While it is impossible to predict where the bottom is, once any bounce happens short-covering might be more violent than the way down," he said. Elsewhere in the LME complex, aluminum rose 0.1% to $1,751.75 per tonne, zinc fell 0.3% to $1,996 per tonne and nickel rose 0.6% to $15,648 per tonne. LME 3-month lead fell 1% to $2,030 per tonne, and tin slipped 0.3% on the day to $22,809 per tonne.

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