Oct 16 (Reuters) - Copper slid 1.5 percent on Tuesday with
the market facing its biggest one-day loss in more than a week,
as an escalating trade war between the United States and the
world's top industrial metals consumer China weighed.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange lost
$93 at $6,208 tonne as of 0708 GMT. The most-traded copper
contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange finished down
1.2 percent at 50,190 yuan ($7,249.64) a tonne.
INFLATION: China's factory-gate inflation cooled for a third
straight month in September amid ebbing domestic demand,
pointing to more pressure on the world's second-biggest economy
as it remains locked in an intensifying trade war with the
United States.
GROWTH: Growth in China's factory sector in September
stalled after 15 months of expansion, with export orders falling
the most in more than two years, a private business survey
showed.
TRADE: "Copper has dropped today on worries over trade war
between the United States and China," said Helen Lau, an analyst
at Argonaut Securities in Hong Kong. "There are concerns on
slowing manufacturing growth in China."
IMPORTS: China's unwrought copper imports surged to their
highest in 2-1/2 years in September, while copper concentrate
imports climbed to an all-time high as the world's top copper
consumer's crackdown on scrap leaves it needing other forms of
the metal.
PREMIUMS: Yangshan copper import premiums SMM-CUYP-CN have
been hovering near $120 since late-September, levels last seen
in 2015, which indicate strong demand.
BHP: The world's biggest miner BHP on Tuesday
nearly doubled its stake in SolGold Plc , bolstering its
position against top shareholder Newcrest Mining as it
eyes SolGold's promising Cascabel copper-gold project in
Ecuador.
