Most base metals fell slightly on Tuesday, pressured by a stronger dollar, making greenback-priced metals more expensive to holders of other currencies.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) eased 0.1 percent to $9,076.50 per metric ton, while the most-traded May copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) advanced 0.1 percent to 73,170 yuan ($10,165.04) a ton.
The dollar was stronger, backed by investors adjusting their expectations of the pace and scale of Fed cuts this year following a recent run of resilient US economic data pointing to still-sticky inflation.
Meanwhile, Comex copper speculators raised their long positions to 69,941 contracts, the highest level in more than 13 months, and switched to being net long, by March 12, latest data by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed.
LME aluminum dipped 0.1 percent to $2,274.50 a ton, nickel fell 0.1 percent to $17,850, zinc declined 0.4 percent to $2,523, while lead rose 0.1 percent to $2,092.
LME tin shed 0.2 percent to $28,635, on track for the first decline in five sessions, as supply disruption in major producer Indonesia showed signs of easing after the top miner there resumed exports for the first time this year in March.
