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Shanghai copper lower on China rate rise

(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-03-19 15:56

BHP Billiton, the world's largest diversified miner and heavily exposed to China's growth, was up 2 percent in Sydney, while Rio Tinto was up over 1 percent.

London Metal Exchange copper for three-month delivery edged lower to $6,585 a tonne at 0408 GMT, from $6,610 at the previous close, when prices jumped 1.2 percent to hit a three-month high.

Nickel was steady at $47,700. On Friday, nickel touched $48,500, its fifth record high in as many days.

Stocks of nickel in LME warehouses fell 30 tonnes to 3,564 tonnes, of which only 2,418 tonnes, or less than one day's global consumption, are available to the market.

"The $50,000 a tonne level is (within) reach and it appears only a question of when, not whether, it will be reached," Dresdner Kleinwort said in a research note.

Shanghai aluminium for June delivery was down 100 yuan at 19,620 yuan a tonne.

LME aluminium was $12 lower at $2,793 a tonne, well within its $2,600 to $2,850 range.