By Anna Stablum
LONDON (Reuters) - Copper was under pressure on Thursday as sliding global equity markets dampened sentiment and offset supportive strike concerns in Latin America, analysts and traders said.
"The base metals markets start to be affected by price falls elsewhere...by negative sentiment from the equities side and the credits side," economist John Kemp at Sempra Metals said.
Copper for delivery in three months on the London Metal Exchange was down $115 to $7,195/7,212 at 0905 GMT, after falling by over 1 percent in the previous session.
"It makes sense for base metals to be marked lower to reflect the greater uncertainty (about the outlook for global economic growth)," Sempra's Kemp said.
Until the doubts about how much the credit market problems would affect the underlying economy are resolved copper was likely to trade in a $6,000 to $6,500 range, he said.
Rising copper stocks in LME-warehouses also weighed on prices, up 3,300 tonnes to 119,350, representing some two and a half days of global consumption.
European shares slid with the FTSEurofirst 300 index
down 2.24 and mining shares, such as Xstrataand Anglo American
on the London Stock Exchange, fell by around 4 percent.
Earlier Tokyo's Nikkei average touched levels last seen in late November after Wall Street stocks were hit by worries about the health of Countrywide Financial Corp., the largest U.S. mortgage lender.
"All the (stock market) indices are pretty much off so it is not surprising the complex is trading lower," sales trader Michael Skinner at Standard Bank said.
"There are stories out there that could be broadly supportive i.e. Southern Copper, Mexico -- but who cares? The market is dominated by what is going on in the equity markets."
Peru is the world's third largest copper producer and mining brings in half of the country's export receipts, but an earthquake, killing more than 330 people, seemed to have little or no impact on the country's mines.
But industrial action meant prices would see some support as Peru's copper industry is suffering from a widening strike.
Overnight, workers at the Toquepala mine in Peru, owned by Southern Copper, rejected the company's wage proposal, joining workers at the company's Ilo smelter.
Prices were further underpinned by a decision by a Mexican court that a two-week old strike at Grupo Mexico's Cananea copper mine can continue.
The court said miners at Cananea, the world's largest copper mine, would not lose their jobs if they stayed on strike over safety rules.
Lead fell by 2.7 percent or $80 to $2,880/2,940.
The metal, mainly used in batteries, has dropped by some 18 percent since its high of $3,500 at the end of July, but prices are still up by 75 percent so far this year.
Tin was steady at $13,825/13,850 against its last quote on Wednesday, when it shed 4.9 percent.
Aluminium was down $10 to $2,535/2,540, zinc dropped $50 to $3,180/3,190 and nickel fell $900 or 3.4 percent to $25,600/25,800.
