Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mostly lower at the start of the week on Monday October 29, with nickel trading at a 10-month low while weaker Chinese stocks indices add pressure across morning trading.
Concerns of a slowdown in the Chinese economy continue to weigh on Asian shares, with the Shanghai Composite falling 2.2% over the morning and nearing levels unseen since 2014. Upcoming Chinese manufacturing data, scheduled for release later this week, could inject the complex with upward momentum, however the country's marked decline in commodity investment is keeping global investors cautious. "Over the weekend China announced that industrial profits climbed 4.1% year on year in September, marking slow growth for the fifth month in a row," Marex Spectron's LME analyst Alastair Munro said in a morning report. "Base metals are modestly lower, although [there was] trading in tight ranges overnight...