METALS-Copper eases as dollar firms on U.S. inflation jitters

(Updates prices, adds quotes)

July 14 (Reuters) – Copper prices fell on Wednesday, as a firmer dollar made greenback-priced metals less appealing to holders of other currencies, while inflationary pressures in the United States sparked worries of a sooner-than-expected monetary policy.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was down 0.2% at $9,393 a tonne, as of 0609 GMT, while the most-traded August copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange declined 0.5% to 68,760 yuan ($10,620.62) a tonne.

The U.S. dollar touched a three-month high versus the euro and a one-week high versus the yen, after U.S. consumer prices last month increased by the most in 13 years, spurring bets of faster monetary policy tightening than the Federal Reserve officials have so far signalled.

A firm dollar makes greenback-priced metals more expensive to holders of other currencies.

Markets will pay attention to any information indicating the Fed’s liquidity tapering, said Huatai Futures in a report.

“But copper price reaction (to the inflation data) was relatively ‘calm’ with a slight fall only, suggesting that the current macro impact on the copper prices might be gradually weakening,” the company said, adding that fundamentals of the metal remained relatively unchanged.

FUNDAMENTALS

* China, the world’s biggest metals consumer, will take “comprehensive measures” to ease rising commodity prices, Premier Li Keqiang said.

* LME aluminium decreased 0.4% to $2,525.50 a tonne, nickel dropped 0.7% to $18,640 a tonne, and zinc was down 0.2% at $2,928.50 a tonne.

* ShFE aluminium rose 0.6% to 19,290 yuan a tonne, nickel declined 0.5% to 139,200 yuan a tonne, zinc shed 0.7% to 21,945 yuan a tonne, and lead was down 1.1% to 15,570 yuan a tonne.

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