(Updates prices)
SINGAPORE, June 26 (Reuters) - Copper fell on the London
Metal Exchange on Friday and was on track to post a weekly loss
as macroeconomic headwinds outweighed dip buying.
Benchmark three-month copper on the LME fell 0.78%
to $13,167 a metric ton by 0700 GMT.
The most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures
Exchange was supported by bargain-buying, edging up
0.21% to 101,560 yuan ($14,930.24) a ton.
The red metal was poised to end the week down more than 3%
on the LME and just under 3% on the SHFE.
Lower Shanghai copper prices brought some buying interest
back to the market on Thursday, providing support, Chinese
broker Jinrui Futures, a subsidiary of copper producer Jiangxi
Copper, wrote in a note.
The U.S. dollar surrendered gains earlier in the day
to decline 0.01%. It nonetheless remains high, up 0.5% since the
start of the week, weighing on greenback-denominated metal
markets by making them more expensive for buyers using other
currencies.
Elsewhere, economic headwinds from the war in the Middle
East helped push a key U.S. inflation indicator to its highest
level in three years in May. Inflation and higher interest rate
expectations have weighed on growth-dependent industrial
minerals.
Aluminium was largely stable, taking into stride jitters in
this week's tentative Middle East peace after a cargo ship was
hit by a projectile in the Strait of Hormuz.
On the LME, it was flat, and on the SHFE,
it edged up 0.11%. Prices for the light metal have fallen 7% on
the LME since the start of the week as the Middle East risk
premium receded.
Among other LME metals, zinc lost 0.63%, lead
dipped 0.24%, nickel dipped 0.17% and tin
dipped 0.06%.
Elsewhere on SHFE, zinc dipped 0.27%, lead
added 0.31%, nickel lost 0.57% and tin gained
0.57%.
($1 = 6.8023 Chinese yuan)