Most base metals moved lower in early Asian trade on Monday, as investors worried about the prospect of a recession in the United States, the world's biggest economy.
U.S. Treasury 10-year note yields dropped below three-month Treasury bill yields for the first time since 2007 on Friday after disappointing U.S. manufacturing data. A yield curve inversion is seen as a leading recession indicator.
FUNDAMENTALS
* COPPER: The most traded May copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell as much as 1.6 percent to 48,300 yuan ($7,191.57) a tonne, its lowest since Feb. 18, and stood at 48,390 yuan as of 0119 GMT. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was flat at $6,313 a tonne after closing down 1.7 percent on Friday.
* COPPER: Peruvian police said they have arrested the leader and two lawyers of an indigenous community, accusing them of trying to extort Chinese miner MMG Ltd by blocking a road it uses to transport copper for the past month.
* COPPER STOCKS: Copper stockpiles in ShFE warehouses CU-STX-SGH fell slightly to 259,172 tonnes last week after a rapid build during a seasonal lull in demand.
* ANTO: Chile's Antofagasta expects to reach an agreement with miner BHP to help ensure water supply at its Zalidvar copper mine in the country's northern desert, a company official told a Chilean newspaper on Friday.
* OTHER METALS: ShFE metals were down across the board, with nickel shedding 1 percent, while in London, zinc , nickel and aluminium edged down 0.3-0.4 percent.
* ALUMINIUM: China Hongqiao Group said on Friday that a doubling of alumina sales helped offset lower aluminium production and prices, leaving its net profit steady in the second half of 2018.
* CHINA: China reverted to being a net importer of alumina in February for the first month since April 2018, while its scrap metal imports plunged to just 160,000 tonnes, the lowest in customs website records going back to June 2014. Scrap copper imports stood at 60,000 tonnes. - Source: Reuters-