Copper futures slipped this morning as cautious investors moved to the sidelines ahead of a week expected to bring little in the way of good news from the eurozone.

The most actively traded copper contract, for March delivery, fell 1.90 cent, or 0.5% to settle at USD 3.4160 a pound on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

European stock markets ended mostly lower after the leaders of Germany and France turned up the pressure on Greece and its international creditors. Other investors were disappointed by a weak reading on German industrial production.

That set a cautious tone for the copper market, as traders shunned large bets on the metal ahead of a week filled with European debt sales and summits. On Thursday, the European Central Bank is expected to announce its latest interest-rate decision and hold a press conference.

Worries about the financial health of the eurozone have weighed on copper prices in recent months, as a credit freeze there could rattle the industrial economy. Copper is used in a wide range of applications in construction and manufacturing, making it sensitive to shifts in the economic outlook.

Analysts at Deutsche Bank said that the eurozone remained the epicenter of the financial market turmoil. The analysts said that industrial metals prices were poised to fall further in the coming months under the weight of the worsening economic picture in Europe and fears that top commodities consumer China may stumble.

(Soured from www.theaustralian.com.au)