MANILA, May 30 (Reuters) - London copper fell to a two-week
low on Wednesday, pressured by a firmer dollar and as Italy's
deepening political crisis pulled investors out of risky assets.
News that the United States will continue with imposing
tariffs on $50 billion of imports from China unless Beijing
addresses the issue of theft of U.S. intellectual property also
weighed on sentiment.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was
down 0.7 percent at $6,810 a tonne by 0206 GMT, after hitting an
early low of $6,802.
* SHANGHAI COPPER: The most-traded July copper contract on
the Shanghai Futures Exchange dropped nearly 1 percent
to 51,110 yuan ($7,952) a tonne, a one-week low.
* EURO: The dollar hovered near a 10-month high versus the
euro as Italy's political crisis raised the likelihood of an
early election. A stronger greenback makes dollar-denominated
assets costlier for holders of other currencies.
* CHINA RESPONSE: Chinese state media criticised a U.S.
announcement that it would press ahead with restrictions on
investment by Chinese companies, saying that Beijing was ready
to fight back if Washington was looking to reignite a trade war.
* INDIA SMELTER: Vedanta Resources is working on a
legal challenge to an Indian state's closure of one of its
copper smelters, but it will not proceed until tensions over the
deaths of 13 people during protests last week have eased.
* ALUMINIUM PREMIUMS: Two global aluminium producers have
offered Japanese buyers a premium of $159-160 per tonne for
primary metal shipments for the July-September quarter, up 23-24
percent from the current quarter, four sources directly involved
in pricing talks said.
* TIN: Shanghai tin jumped more than 3 percent to
an intraday high of 157,560 yuan a tonne, its strongest level
since August. Traders have said the market was concerned that
shipments from China's top supplier Myanmar were falling.
* MARKETS: Asian shares extended a global selloff as Italy's
political crisis provoked a heavy retreat on Wall Street, sent
the euro to a 10-month low and pushed up borrowing costs for the
government in Rome.
