Copper Drops to $3.0595 per Pound on Lukewarm Chinese Data

Copper dipped 0.3 percent or $0.01 on New York’s Comex to trade at $3.0595 per pound on Monday, according to The Wall Street Journal. Impacting the price was Chinese data that showed a disappointing picture of the country’s manufacturing sector. China is the single largest consumer of the red metal.

The HSBC China Manufacturing Purchasing Manager’s Index, a measure of nationwide factory activity, came in at lower levels than investors would have liked to see for April, still indicating contraction in the sector.

“The China data is always on the forefront of any move in copper and you’ve been getting such a mixed bag from there lately,” Bob Haberkorn, a senior commodities broker with RJO Futures, told the Journal.

The London Metal Exchange is closed today for the Early May Bank Holiday.