At a speech at the China Gold and Precious Metals Summit in Shanghai Thursday, Mr. Shen detailed the size of China's imports this year, Xinhua said.

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We noted that copper experts were reporting that there were only 4 trading days of inventory in copper at the London Metals Exchange and in Shanghai.

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Metals companies led the Shanghai Composite's losses.

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Jiangxi Copper rose 1.7% in Hong Kong and 1.9% in Shanghai, while in Sydney, Fortescue Metals Group and BHP Billiton advanced 3.8% and 0.7%, respectively.

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