SHANGHAI, Nov. 2 (SMM) -- Greek government decided Monday evening it would put European bailout deal up to a vote, triggering concerns in global financial market and causing stocks and commodity prices to plunge. As a result, Shanghai metal prices opened lower, and should fall further, dragged down by LME metal prices and uncertainty of the stock market and economic data.

US stock market plunged again on November 1st after the Greek referendum led to doubts whether stock markets can stay on the upward track in the short term. As such, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 297.05 points or 2.48% to 11,657.96 points, the S&P 500 was down 35.02 points or 2.79% to 1,218.28 points and the NASDAQ Composite plunged 77.45 points or 2.89% to 2,606.96 points. This referendum is expected to be held in January 2012, which added to huge uncertainties in European efforts to tame the region's debt crisis. This especially added to investor worries towards mounting credit cost for Italy. In Europe, the STOXX 600 plunged 3.5% to 235.06 points, with Italian and Greek stock markets reporting heaviest losses. As such, the Greek ASE Composite plunged 6.9% to 752.65 points and the Italian FTSE MIB slipped 6.8% to 14,928.24 points.

LME base metal prices closed with declines on November 1st as Greek referendum of the bailout deal caused investors to sell off commodities, stocks and the euro. LME three-month copper contract prices closed at USD 7,730.0/mt, down USD 250.0/mt or 3.1%, and 6.6% lower than the record high USD 8,280/mt hit on October 28th. LME aluminum prices closed USD 106.0/mt lower, at USD 2,111.0/mt. LME lead prices closed at USD 1,982.0/mt, down USD 99.5/mt; LME zinc prices closed at USD 1,913.0/mt, down USD 87.0/mt.

According to data from CFTC for the week ending October 25th, the longs increased their positions in COMEX copper by 265 lots, to 28,375 lots; the shorts cut positions by 2,316 lots, to 31,313 lots, and the net short were 2,938 lots. Commercial positions included 62,365 shorts. Since most investors see the market bearish for the foreseeable future, base metal prices should continue to fall.