London Copper Slipped Ahead Of The European Central Bank Meeting, Supported By Hopes Of A Recovery in Demand.

London copper prices fell on Thursday, though better-than-expected Chinese economic data raised hopes of a recovery in demand for the metal amid falling inventories. The European Central Bank will release its monetary policy decision later.

Copper for three-month delivery on the London Metal Exchange was down 1.21 percent at $9,612 a tonne at 17:08 Beijing time.

Copper for July delivery on the Shanghai Futures Exchange ended the day 0.15 percent higher at 72,810 yuan a tonne.

Jigar Trivedi, commodities analyst at Mumbai-based brokerage Anand Rathi Shares, said: "We expect copper to see some recovery later today. It's just that copper is flat ahead of the ECB."

The ECB is almost certain to announce the end of its long-running asset purchase programme at the end of this month and promise to raise interest rates in July, but the scale and pace of tightening is uncertain.

Speculation is mounting that soaring eurozone inflation could prompt the European Central Bank to kick off its interest rate hike with a hefty 50 basis point increase.

According to customs statistics, in the first five months of this year, China's import and export value was 16.04 trillion yuan, an increase of 8.3% over the same period last year. Of this, exports reached 8.94 trillion yuan, up 11.4%; Imports were 7.1 trillion yuan, up 4.7%; The trade surplus was 1.84 trillion yuan, an increase of 47.6%.

中国进口了240.4万吨未加工的警察per and copper materials in the january-May period, up 1.6 percent, while the average import price rose 12.1 percent to 64,900 yuan per ton, according to data released by the General Administration of Customs on Thursday.

"We don't think the extension of the blockade will affect market sentiment. The markets may shrug it off. Copper could rise to $9,850 a tonne and supply concerns could provide support in the near term, "Trivedi said.

LME warehouse copper inventories fell 3,875 tonnes to 116,900 tonnes on Wednesday, the lowest since April 13.

Chile's Codelco, the world's largest copper producer, said on Wednesday it had stopped operations at its Ventanas smelter and refinery for maintenance after authorities declared an environmental emergency in the area.

LME aluminium fell 0.92 percent to $2,793 a tonne, zinc fell 1.14 percent to $3,778 a tonne, nickel fell 2.86 percent to $28,030 a tonne, lead fell 0.31 percent to $2,225.50 a tonne and tin fell 1.35 percent to $36,600 a tonne.

Shanghai aluminum rose 0.36 percent, Shanghai zinc rose 1.19 percent, Shanghai nickel fell 0.94 percent, Shanghai lead fell 0.1 percent and Shanghai tin jumped 3.36 percent.