2 Minutes Read (Updates prices, adds quotes) 14 JULY (Reuters) – Copper prices fell on Wednesday, as a stronger dollar made greenback-priced metals less tempting to holders of other currencies, while inflationary pressures in the US raised fears of a monetary policy tightening sooner than planned. As of 0609 GMT, three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was down 0.2 percent at $9,393 a tonne, while the Shanghai Futures Exchange’s most-traded August copper contract was down 0.5 percent at 68,760 yuan ($10,620.62) a tonne. After U.S. consumer prices rose by the highest in 13 years last month, the dollar hit a three-month high against the euro and a one-week high against the yen, fueling bets on faster monetary policy tightening than the Federal Reserve policymakers have so far signaled. Metals priced in greenbacks are more expensive for holders of foreign currencies when the dollar is strong. According to Huatai Futures, any indication signaling the Fed’s liquidity withdrawal would be closely watched by markets. “However, the reaction of copper prices (to the inflation report) was very ‘quiet,’ with only a modest dip, suggesting that the current macro impact on copper prices may be progressively decreasing,” the company said, adding that the metal’s fundamentals remained basically intact. * Premier Li Keqiang announced that China, the world’s largest metals consumer, will take “comprehensive measures” to reduce rising commodity costs. * Aluminium down 0.4 percent to $2,525.50 a tonne on the LME, nickel fell 0.7 percent to $18,640 per tonne, and zinc fell 0.2 percent to $2,928.50 per tonne. * ShFE aluminium increased by 0.6 percent to 19,290 yuan per tonne, while nickel fell by 0.5 percent to 139,200 yuan per tonne, zinc fell by 0.7 percent to 21,945 yuan per tonne, and lead fell by 1.1 percent to 15,570 yuan per tonne. or$1 = 6.4742 yuan$1 = 6.4742 yuan$1 = 6.4742 yuan$1 = 6.4742 yuan$1 = 6.4742 yuan$1 Mai Nguyen contributed reporting from Hanoi, and Sherry Jacob-Phillips edited the piece./n
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