Base metals slip

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BEIJING- Most base metals were nursing losses on Wednesday, weighed down by a strong US dollar and demand concerns amid economic headwinds in top metals consumer China.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was 0.1 percent lower at $9,454.50 per metric ton, extending declines from Tuesday.

The most-traded June copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell 0.7 percent to 76,540 yuan ($10,576.21) per ton.

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The dollar index hovered around a five-month high, after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Tuesday that the US central bank may need to keep rates higher for longer as inflation remains sticky.

A stronger dollar makes it more expensive to buy the greenback-priced commodity.

Although China’s first quarter economic growth beat expectation, its March industrial output and retail sales grew fell below what analysts’ had anticipated.

Weak demand in China and war escalation would weigh on global economic growth, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday, eyeing a slow but steady growth for 2024 and 2025.

LME aluminum slid 0.4 percent to $2,552.50 a ton, zinc dropped 0.7 percent to $2,753, lead fell 0.4 percent to $2,139, nickel nudged 0.1 percent lower at $17,705 and tin lost 1.1 percent to $31,480.

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