Copper slips from multi-year highs on profit taking

Copper fell on Wednesday, as investors booked profits after prices rallied to multi-year highs in the previous session on coronavirus vaccine hopes and strong economic data from China.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange fell 0.4% to $7,666.50 a tonne by 0256 GMT, retreating from $7,743 a tonne, a level unseen since March 2013, that was hit on Tuesday.

The most-traded January copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange slipped from an over eight-year high to trade at 57,190 yuan ($8,720.65) a tonne, down 0.2%.

Both contracts have had strong rallies as investors were bullish about a global economic recovery following COVID-19 vaccine developments and positive manufacturing data coming out of top copper consumer China.