Copper heads for weekly losses amid demand pressure, dollar gain
BEIJING, Feb 3 (Reuters) -Copper prices dipped on Friday, heading for a weekly loss, as soft global demand weighed on sentiment despite the latest supply disruptions.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange CMCU3 was down 0.2% at $9,038 a tonne by 0158 GMT. For the week so far, the contract is down 2.4%.
Citi Research economists believe a softer-than-anticipated China recovery and sustained manufacturing sector weakness outside of China will keep metals demand under pressure.
U.S. manufacturing contracted further in January as higher interest rates stifled demand for goods, but factories did not appear to be laying off workers in large numbers. nN9N32B012
The dollar on Friday recovered from a heavy selloff in the aftermath of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's speech, and against a basket of currencies, making it less attractive for non-dollar holders to buy the greenback-priced commodity. nL1N34J01H
Investors now eye a jobs report in the United States due later in the day. The strength of the labour market is a key concern for the Fed, which announced a 25 basis-points interest rate hike Wednesday.
The most-traded March copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange SCFcv1 inched 1% down at 68,490 yuan($10,157.95) a tonne.
Among other metals, LME aluminium CMAL3 dipped 0.3% to $2,608 a tonne, tin CMSN3 eased 1.3% to $28,995 a tonne and zinc CMZN3 fell 1% to $3,348 a tonne, while lead CMPB3 advanced 0.5% to $2,144 a tonne.
SHFE aluminium SAFcv1 slid 0.3% at 19,060 yuan a tonne, while lead SPBcv1 inched 0.1% down to 15,290 yuan a tonne, while nickel SNIcv1 added 0.6% to 222,150 yuan a tonne and zinc SZNcv1 was up 0.2% at 24,205 yuan a tonne.
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($1 = 6.7425 Chinese yuan)
Reporting by Siyi Liu and Dominique Patton; editing by Uttaresh.V
For related news and prices, click on the codes in brackets: LME price overview RING= COMEX copper futures 0#HG: All metals news MTL All commodities news C
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