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Weaker domestic demand is the main factor behind the fall in the flash Markit/HSBC Purchasing Managers' Index to 49.6 in January from a final reading of 50.5 in December, according to a report by Caixin magazine Thursday, citing HSBC economist Qu Hongbin. The mark of 50 separates contraction from expansion.
"While that was not a large fall, importantly it signaled contraction for the first time in six months," Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) Banking Group said in a report on Friday.
"There is nothing positive for copper at the moment … The HSBC flash manufacturing PMI data rattled many nerves in the market," Reuters quoted Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at Ava Trade in Dublin, as saying Friday.
Goldman Sachs analysts said Tuesday that the outlook for copper isn't bright and that prices will fall this year due to a surplus in the global copper market, according to a report by marketwatch.com Tuesday.
As the US Federal Reserve pulls back from its stimulus program, interest rates in the US may jump, which could slow the improvement in the US housing industry and perhaps even trigger a recession in the country, according to the marketwatch.com report.
"In this environment, my outlook for copper is pretty gloomy: sideways to downward price trends for the upcoming calendar year," marketwatch.com quoted Jeffery Born, a professor of finance at the D'Amore McKim School of Business at Northeastern University, as saying.
Slowing growth in China - the world's largest copper consumer - caused more concerns about falling demand, Reuters reported Friday.
The benchmark three-month copper contract on the London Metal Exchange ended at $7,180 per ton, down from $7,292 Thursday, and the lowest level in a month, Reuters reported Friday.
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