METALS-Copper extends losses on fund selling; zinc, lead hit new lows

(Updates prices) By Eric Onstad LONDON, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Copper prices extended losses on Friday to their weakest in nearly three months as U.S. speculators unleashed bearish bets despite news that top metals consumer China had bolstered its economy with financing measures. Zinc and lead touched fresh lows as gains in inventories highlighted weak demand and oversupply. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange CMCU3 was down 0.2% at $8,177 per metric ton at 1700 GMT, its lowest since Nov. 14. The contract has lost 3.6% so far this week, and is set for its biggest weekly loss since last May. U.S. Comex copper futures HGcv1 dropped 0.6% to $3.68 a lb. Copper went into the red after U.S. traders became active, especially Commodity Trade Advisor (CTA) investment funds, which are largely driven by computer programmes. "We also have heavy CTA sell programmes continuing on likes of copper and zinc," Al Munro at broker Marex said in a note. During European morning trading, copper was in slightly positive territory after data showed new bank loans in China jumped by more than expected to an all-time high in January, reinforcing expectations for more stimulus in the coming months. "The financial data is clearly a positive surprise, but this is only one nice print. People are still worried about China," said Nitesh Shah, commodity strategist at WisdomTree. "Instead of these micro interventions, the market is looking for much bolder steps, and we may only get that after the (Chinese) new year." The Shanghai Futures Exchange is closed on Friday and next week for the Lunar New Year holiday. The prolonged property sector crisis in China has weighed on sentiment, given that construction is a major consumer of base metals. LME lead CMPB3 shed 1.1% to $2,032.50 a ton, its lowest level since Dec. 13. LME inventories on Friday rose to 150,675 tons, the highest in more than six years, having surged by 39% in slightly over two weeks. MPBSTX-TOTAL Zinc CMZN3 dropped 1.1% to $2,301.50 a ton, its lowest in more than five months, in the wake of data on Friday showing 10,700 tons of inflows into LME warehouses, bringing the total to 227,225. Among other metals, LME aluminium CMAL3 eased 0.2% to $2,217.50 per ton, nickel CMNI3 dipped 0.4% to $15,940 while tin CMSN3 jumped 3.1% to $26,700. For the top stories in metals, click on TOP/MTL (Reporting by Eric Onstad; Additional reporting by Siyi Liu in Beijing; Editing by Jan Harvey and Mark Potter) (([email protected]; +44 20 7542 7093; Twitter https://twitter.com/reutersEricO; Reuters Messaging: [email protected])) (( For related news and prices, click on the codes in brackets: LME price overview RING= COMEX copper futures 0#HG: All metals news MTL All commodities news C Foreign exchange rates FX= SPEED GUIDES LME/INDEX ))