Copper fell on the London Metal Exchange on Friday and was on track to post a weekly loss as macroeconomic headwinds outweighed dip buying.
Benchmark three-month copper CA1! on the LME fell 0.78% to $13,167 a metric ton by 0700 GMT.
The most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange HG1! was supported by bargain-buying, edging up 0.21% to 101,560 yuan ($14,930.24) a ton.
The red metal was poised to end the week down more than 3% on the LME and just under 3% on the SHFE.
Lower Shanghai copper prices brought some buying interest back to the market on Thursday, providing support, Chinese broker Jinrui Futures, a subsidiary of copper producer Jiangxi Copper, wrote in a note.
The U.S. dollar DXY surrendered gains earlier in the day to decline 0.01%. It nonetheless remains high, up 0.5% since the start of the week, weighing on greenback-denominated metal markets by making them more expensive for buyers using other currencies.
Elsewhere, economic headwinds from the war in the Middle East helped push a key U.S. inflation indicator to its highest level in three years in May. Inflation and higher interest rate expectations have weighed on growth-dependent industrial minerals.
Aluminium was largely stable, taking into stride jitters in this week’s tentative Middle East peace after a cargo ship was hit by a projectile in the Strait of Hormuz.
On the LME AH1!, it was flat, and on the SHFE ALI1!, it edged up 0.11%. Prices for the light metal have fallen 7% on the LME since the start of the week as the Middle East risk premium receded.
Among other LME metals, zinc ZNC1! lost 0.63%, lead LEAD1! dipped 0.24%, nickel NICKEL1! dipped 0.17% and tin FTIN1! dipped 0.06%.
Elsewhere on SHFE, zinc ZNC1! dipped 0.27%, lead LEAD1! added 0.31%, nickel NICKEL1! lost 0.57% and tin FTIN1! gained 0.57%.
($1 = 6.8023 Chinese yuan)