Copper May Drop a Second Day in Asia as Dollar Strengthens On Europe Woes

Sep 28 (Bloomberg)--

Copper, little changed, may decline for a second day as the dollar strengthened against the euro on mounting concern that Europe’s debt crisis is escalating. Zinc and aluminum declined.

Copper for three-month delivery on the London Metal Exchange fell as much as 0.5 percent to $7,872 a metric ton before trading at $7,900 at 10:30 a.m. Singapore time. January- delivery copper on the Shanghai Futures Exchange lost as much as 0.9 percent to 60,120 yuan ($8,983) a ton before trading little changed at 60,540 yuan.

"In the near term, as worries about Europe resurface, the dollar will likely strengthen against the euro and weigh on metals prices,” Zhang Fang, an analyst at China Securities Co., said from Beijing.

The dollar gained against the euro before reports today that economists forecast will show German consumer prices declined and French household spending dropped. The euro, which weakened to $1.3445 from a five-month high yesterday, also retreated as Ireland will disclose this week the final costs of bailing out Anglo Irish Bank Corp.

Aluminum in London dropped 0.3 percent to $2,287 a ton, zinc declined 0.6 percent to $2,195 a ton and lead fell 0.2 percent to $2,265 a ton. Nickel lost 0.3 percent to $23,015 a ton, while tin hadn’t traded by 10:31 a.m. in Singapore.