Weak economic data released by the globe's two largest consumers pulled down copper futures on Monday, according to Reuters.
The reddish metal slumped to its lowest value in about 18 months as the U.S. and China are showing signs of economic challenges. China's first quarter of this year showed signs of challenges as gross domestic product did not advance as quickly as forecast. China is the world's top consumer of the industrial metal and hosts the globe's second-largest economy.
"The Chinese market is being kept up by credit invested in state-owned enterprises, though even that wasn't enough to keep GDP on track to where the market expected it to be in Q1," analyst Tom Kendall with Credit Suisse told Bloomberg on Monday. "We have a Q4 average of $7,000 a ton for copper, because essentially demand is growing sluggishly and supply is rising."
At 10:04 a.m. on Monday, copper futures plunged 3.09 percent, a 0.1055-cent loss to $3.2295 per pound.
Bloomberg reports Monday losses to the base metal also dragged down the peso of Chile, which is the globe's top producer of the reddish metal.
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