KONTAN.CO.ID - SINGAPORE. London copper prices fell on Tuesday as a liquidity crisis in the Chinese property sector and energy shortages in top consumer China weighed on the demand outlook of the metal.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was down 0.4% at $9,597.50 a tonne, as of 0740 GMT, while the most-traded December copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed up 0.7% at 70,550 yuan ($11,026.88) a tonne, tracking overnight gains in London.

Investors have been worried about a broadening liquidity crisis in China's property sector, with a string of offshore debt defaults, credit rating downgrades and sell-offs in some developers' shares and bonds in recent weeks.

The real estate sector accounts for a large share of copper consumption and China is the world's biggest user of the metal.

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Energy shortages in China and electricity price hikes in Europe also posed risks of reduced demand from metal users.

The copper market has not seen a large number of transactions, Huatai Futures said in a report, but added that they hold a neutral view towards copper prices.

Copper, which has been supported by low exchange warehouse inventories, rose on Monday on solid U.S. and China economic data, as well as a $1-trillion U.S. infrastructure bill that could boost metals demand and economic growth.

"We had the infrastructure bill passed on Monday and now we're retracing those gains. Prices didn't hold at $9,600, so there'll be more downside," a Singapore-based metals trader said, adding that China-based traders were leading the sell-off but only in thin volume.

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Editor: Tendi Mahadi