Aluminium was the worst, losing 5.2% to $2875.25 per tonne, the lowest since early January. Copper's closing price of $9405.75/t was a 2022 low. Zinc fell to below $4000/t, while nickel dropped under $31,000/t.
Investment banking group UBS noted that PMI data from both Caixin and China's National Bureau of Statistics showed a drop due to the Covid-19 lockdowns across several major cities.
"We expect the upcoming April data release to show much weaker year-on-year growth of most activities, with the most significant hit on retail sales (-10% year-on-year), while disruptions on logistics and supply chain likely dampened industrial production (-0.5% year-on-year) and exports much more than March," the bank said.
"Property sales and investment likely weakened further, and infrastructure investment rebound may have continued. We expect further uptick of credit growth, slightly higher CPI and lower PPI on year-on-year basis in April."
