Copper prices fall at the open on nervousness about Chinese demand

The copper prices They were down 0.7% on Monday at US$9,787 a tonne, pressured by nervousness about demand from China, the world’s largest consumer of the metal, and the dollar’s bullish bias.

Meanwhile, aluminum and nickel prices were headed for multi-year highs on growing fears that falling supplies from Russia would exacerbate shortages of both industrial metals.

A Russian invasion of Ukraine could lead to sanctions against Russian companies including Norilsk Nickel, which supplies about 10% of the world’s nickel, and Rusal, which accounts for about 5% of global aluminum stocks.

Russia has repeatedly denied that it is preparing to invade Ukraine.

Benchmark aluminum on the London Metal Exchange (LME) added 1% to $3,169 a tonne at 10:37 GMT.

The price of the metal used in the energy, construction and packaging industries hit $3,333 a ton last week, close to the all-time high of $3,380 on July 15, 2008.

Meanwhile, nickel added 1.7% to $23,450 a tonne, not far off January’s 10-year high of $24,435 a tonne.

With information from Reuters.