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The copper price fell on Monday as the dollar hovered near its highest levels in months, making greenback-priced metals more expensive and less appealing to holders of other currencies.

Daily new coronavirus infections have been surging from the United States and Europe to Asia due to the spread of the Delta variant, making investors nervous about the global economic recovery and putting money into safe haven assets.

Copper for delivery in September fell 2.7% from Friday’s settlement price, touching $4.204 per pound ($9,248 per tonne) midday Monday on the Comex market in New York.

Click here for an interactive chart of copper prices

Chinese reserves

China will strengthen commodity price monitoring and continue to release copper, aluminum, and zinc from its state reserves in batches, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said on Monday.

The state planner sold 20,000 tonnes of copper, 50,000 tonnes of aluminum, and 30,000 tonnes of zinc from its reserves on July 5.

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More than 200 non-ferrous fabricators attended the bidding, with sales prices about 3-9% lower than market price that day, the NDRC spokesman Yuan Da said at a press briefing.

“The release initially achieved the expected goal … targeted placement granted downstream fabricators an opportunity to replenish stocks and lower some companies’ raw material costs,” Yuan said.

The NDRC also pledged to keep reinforcing supervision of the futures and spot market and strictly crack down on irregularities such as hoarding, it said.

(With files from Reuters)