HANOI Copper prices were subdued on Thursday on a jump in inventories and a pessimistic global growth outlook, while most other base metals also fell on risk-off sentiment across financial markets.

The most-traded September copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SFE) dropped 1.1% to 70,740 yuan (US$9,876.44) a tonne.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was nearly flat at US$8,769 per metric tonne by 0550 GMT. The contract has lost 4.9% so far this month, extending a streak of consecutive monthly falls since June.

“The global economic growth cycle has turned lower. This means that all markets might synchronise and move together. With rising visible stocks and recovering treatment charges and refining charges (TC/RCs), copper bulls have no story left,” said Sandeep Daga, director at Metal Intelligence Centre.

Rising TC/RCs - the fees copper smelters charge miners to process raw material - implies an improvement in copper concentrate supply on the spot market, which has been tight and one of the reasons for investors to be bullish on copper prices.

Meanwhile, LME copper inventories jumped nearly threefold in just under three months to 294,750 tonnes on Wednesday. The recent deliveries were sent to LME warehouses in South Korea and Taiwan that are close to China.

Physical demand has improved as prices fell, but the risk-off sentiment in the financial markets would weigh on prices more than the physical side, said Daga.

LME aluminium declined 0.8% to US$2,270.50 a tonne, nickel dropped 1% to US$16,130, lead decreased 1% to US$1,948.50, tin fell 0.2% to US$29,945, while zinc was nearly flat at US$2,582.50.

SHFE aluminium eased 0.3% to 18,890 yuan a tonne, nickel dropped 1.8% to 127,030 yuan, zinc declined 0.8% to 21,835 yuan, while lead rose 0.2% to 17,355 yuan, and tin advanced 0.5% to 245,770 yuan.

  - Reuters