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Copper closes

lower in

Shanghai

SHANGHAI: Shanghai copper closed down across the board in slow trading, wiping out most of Monday's gains, on disappointment that copper did not rise on the London Metal Exchange (LME), traders said.

Shanghai copper surged on Monday because some players believed the LME would rise on Tueday.

"Some speculators offset their positions," one trader said. "Others insisted copper would rise in the coming days, so they wanted to watch and wait," he said, adding that such a strategy was risky since fundamentals did not warrant a major price rise.

Demand for August contracts eased on the last day of trading since many investors with long positions did not want physical delivery.

August closed at 29,550 yuan per tonne, down 150 yuan. Open interest was about 8,000 tonnes, little different from the July delivery volume.

September dropped 250 yuan to 29,830 yuan a tonne, October 190 to 30,060 yuan, November 180 to 30,080 yuan, December 180 to 30,080 yuan, January 180 to 30,080 yuan, February 150 to 29,950 yuan. Combined copper volume was 11,500 tonnes from 11,775 tonnes on Monday.

Aluminium ended down across the board. August dropped 150 yuan to 18,830 yuan a tonne, September fell 60 to 18,670 yuan, October fell 30 to 18,560 yuan, November lost 70 to 18,480 yuan and December declined by 50 yuan to 18,450.

Combined aluminium volume was 2,475 tonnes against 2,725 tonnes on Monday.

Other metals were not traded.-Reuter