Most base metals down

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Prices of most industrial metals in Shanghai fell on Monday, as traders weighed cues of slower growth after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled that the US central bank would raise interest rates further to tame stubborn inflation.

Powell on Friday warned that Americans were headed for a painful period of slow economic growth and possibly rising joblessness.

Slowing growth could lead to weakening demand for base metals, and copper is often used as a gauge of the global economic health.

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The most-traded October copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange was down 0.9 percent at 62,800 yuan a ton. Nickel dropped 4.7 percent to 165,550 yuan a ton and zinc slipped 1.7 percent to 25,000 yuan a ton.

The global nickel market could see a surplus of 111,000 tons this year and an excess of 122,000 tons in 2023 after a deficit of 157,000 tons in 2021 due to new production capacities in Indonesia, research house Antaike said on Friday.

ShFE aluminum rose 0.8 percent to 18,940 yuan a ton, tracking gains in London in the previous session, as soaring electricity prices in Europe have triggered cuts in the energy-intensive production of aluminum.

The London Metal Exchange is closed for a public holiday.

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