By David Hodari and Amrith Ramkumar 

Copper prices fell to start the week, hurt by anxiety over a weakening Chinese economy and a stronger dollar.

Copper for March delivery dipped 0.6% to $2.7420 a pound on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices have fallen about 17% from their June four-year highs and traded sideways in recent weeks on worries that the tariff fight between the U.S. and China will slow the global economy and weaken demand for industrial materials.

China is the world's largest copper consumer, accounting for about half of global demand, so weak economic data from the country has hurt base metals throughout the year.

Broad fears about a slowdown in global growth have also sent risky investments from stocks to oil tumbling in recent weeks.

"The market's also expecting a slowdown in China and with there still being no resolution to the trade war and a broad-based equity selloff, there's not an optimistic feeling in markets in general," said Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodities analyst at SEB Markets. "We continue to see pressure to the downside."

A stronger dollar was also hurting commodities by making them more expensive for overseas buyers. The WSJ Dollar Index, which tracks the U.S. currency against a basket of 16 others, rose 0.2%.

Elsewhere in base metals, aluminum for delivery in three months edged down less than 0.1% to $1,954.50 a metric ton on the London Metal Exchange. Zinc edged up 0.2% to $2,593, tin fell 0.6% to $18,880, nickel dropped 0.8% to $10,825 and lead was down 0.8% at $1,978.50.

Among precious metals, Comex gold for February delivery edged down 0.1% to $1,251.20 a troy ounce but was still near its highest level since July. Most-active silver futures fell 0.2% to $14.660, platinum dipped 0.4% to $787.50 and palladium rose 0.6% to $1,177.40.

Write to David Hodari at David.Hodari@dowjones.com and Amrith Ramkumar at amrith.ramkumar@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 10, 2018 10:13 ET (15:13 GMT)

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