Copper falls on firmer dollar

BEIJING, Feb 26 (Reuters): Copper prices lost ground on Monday, weighed down by a firmer US dollar ahead of key economic data and rising inventories in top consumer China.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was down 0.5 per cent at $8,529 per metric ton by 0618 GMT, while the most-traded March copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange SCFcv1 slid 0.4 per cent to 68,990 yuan ($9,585.27) per ton.

The dollar was on the front foot on Monday, ahead of a week packed with key economic releases. A stronger dollar makes it more expensive to buy the greenback-priced commodity, thereby weighing down prices.

Investor focus will be on inflation data from the United States, Japan and Europe, which will help refine expectations for future interest rate moves.

Rising inventories in China, meanwhile, further weighed on the market, partly due to higher-than-expected January output and copper users taking a longer holiday amid tepid demand, said Shanghai Metals Market in a report.

Deliverable copper stocks after the Lunar New Year holiday scaled 181,323 tons to a near one-year high.