Copper, Aluminum, Zinc Slump in Quarter on Economic Concerns

SHANGHAI, June 30 -- Copper, aluminum and zinc are heading for a quarterly slump on concerns about the strength of the global economy.

Three-month delivery copper fell 0.4 percent to $6,471.25 a metric ton on the London Metal Exchange at 9:32 a.m. in Shanghai and has dropped about 17 percent this quarter. Aluminum was unchanged at $1,947 a ton and has tumbled 16 percent this quarter. Zinc rose 0.7 percent to $1,755.25 a ton, after plunging 26 percent in the quarter.

Stocks sank from Shanghai to New York, with the MSCI World Index losing the most in 14 months, and two-year Treasury yields slid to a record low on concern over weakening growth in China and a slump in U.S. consumer confidence. Still, copper, which sets the pace for other industrial metals, is 7.7 percent up from an eight-month low on June 7.

"We think the rebound in copper is over and the metal will resume a downturn on the faltering economy," Huang Hongjun, an analyst at Jinrui Futures Co said from Shenzhen today.

China and the U.S. are the world's largest consumers of the metal, used in wires and pipes.

Lead for three-month delivery in London was unchanged at $1,720 a ton, nickel rose 0.4 percent to $19,150 a ton and tin advanced 0.7 percent to $17,715 a ton.