Futures drop slightly

In what analysts described as a short-term correction, futures prices of a wide range of commodities in Shanghai yesterday followed the international trend, triggered by reduced global demand and the continued recovery of the US dollar.

Prices of five of the six futures products on the Shanghai Futures Exchange slid, with fuel oil futures and copper futures falling the hardest.

The most actively traded fuel oil futures contract for delivery in November dropped 1.5 percent to 4,768 yuan per ton and the most actively traded copper futures contract for the same delivery sank 1.2 percent to 59,080 yuan per ton. Copper futures contract for delivery in November has fallen an aggregate 6.4 percent over the past two months.