Shanghai metals plunge on global growth fears, Escondida deal
BEIJING, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Shanghai base metals dropped sharply on Thursday, with copper and zinc plumbing fresh one-year lows after a broad sell-off in London in the previous session before bouncing back slightly on news of fresh U.S.-China trade talks.
Markets continue to be spooked by global trade tensions, fearing they could hurt demand for industrial metals, while a deal to avoid a strike at the Escondida copper mine in Chile, the world's largest, has removed a pillar of support for prices.
FUNDAMENTALS
* SHFE COPPER: The most-traded October copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell as much as 3.3 percent to its lowest since June 2017, and was down 2.5 percent at 47,600 yuan ($6,865.71) a tonne, as of 0131 GMT.
* LME COPPER: Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was trading lower for a fifth session, slipping 0.3 percent to $5,813 a tonne, after hitting a 15-month low of $5,773 a tonne on Wednesday.
* ZINC: Shanghai zinc slumped as much as 5.3 percent to 19,525 yuan a tonne, also its lowest since June 2017. In London, the metal was up 0.5 percent, having slid 6.3 percent on Wednesday and hit its lowest since October 2016.
* OTHER METALS: Shanghai lead lost 3 percent, while nickel was down 2.7 percent and aluminium slipped 1.4 percent.
* CHINA: A Chinese delegation led by Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen will travel to the United States for trade talks in late August, China's Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday.
* FOREX: The yuan sagged nearly 0.8 percent to 6.9514 per dollar, hitting its weakest since January 2017.
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MARKETS NEWS
* Equities around the world took a dive led by emerging market stocks and commodities tumbled as investors looked for safety due to worries about China and Turkey.
DATA AHEAD (GMT)
0600 Germany Wholesale price index July
0830 UK Retail sales July
0900 Euro zone Eurostat trade June
1230 U.S. Housing starts July
1230 U.S. Building permits July
1230 U.S. Weekly jobless claims
1230 U.S. Philly Fed business index Aug
PRICES
Three month LME copper
Most active ShFE copper
Three month LME aluminium
Most active ShFE aluminium
Three month LME zinc
Most active ShFE zinc
Three month LME lead
Most active ShFE lead
Three month LME nickel
Most active ShFE nickel
Three month LME tin
Most active ShFE tin
ARBS ($1 = 6.9330 Chinese yuan)
(Reporting by Tom Daly, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
