Industry metals tumbled on Thursday after the ECB postponed easing measures by several weeks. Pushing base metals lower, US factory orders unexpectedly shrank 0.5% in June. Stronger greenback also sent the commodity group lower.
Aluminum dropped on weak PMI data and high output levels from China. Meanwhile, lingering concerns over the Eurozone' debt crisis continued to pressurize gains.
Copper fell on potential output increase. The largest China's producer, Jiangxi Copper, plans to invest USD1.25 billion to expand capacity. Moreover, Chile's red metal's output soared by annualized 5.6% in June.
Nickel extended previous losses amid surplus in the market and weak fundamentals. At the same time, a fall in cancelled warrants may add pressure on the metal.
Zinc followed other industry metals, plunging 0.55%. Weak manufacturing activity worldwide weighted down on zinc futures.