Copper fell the most in a week after a report that Chinese regulators are investigating positions in rubber futures spurred speculation that some traders may be forced to sell commodities.
Rubber prices plunged the most in three months in Shanghai, with declines spilling over into copper, zinc, soybeans and sugar, after the Securities Times report. The newspaper, affiliated with China’s state-run People’s Daily, cited people it didn’t identify. China is the world’s largest metals user.
“The actions in China overnight are simply a warning shot to speculators,” said Alex Heath, the head of industrial-metals trading at Royal Bank of Canada Europe in London. “Liquidation by a number of local brokers on hearing about the investigation unnerved the whole market.”
Copper futures for delivery in December slid 5.70 cents, or 1.6 percent, to close at $3.4435 a pound at 1:22 p.m. on the Comex in New York. That’s the biggest loss for a most active- contract since Aug. 31.
Copper has jumped 20 percent since July 1, partly as inventories dropped.
“Anything that moves this quickly is due for a pullback,” said Michael K. Smith, the president of T&K Futures & Options in Port St. Lucie, Florida. “Nothing fundamental has changed.”
On the London Metal Exchange, copper for delivery in three months fell $120, or 1.6 percent, to $7,555 a metric ton （$3.43 a pound）。
Zinc fell 3 percent to $2,153 a ton in London, after tumbling as much as 6.5 percent. Lead, nickel and aluminum also declined.
Tin rose 0.1 percent to $21,700 a ton. Earlier, the metal touched $21,800, the highest price since August 2008.
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