BEIJING, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Prices of most base metals in London eased on Wednesday after China's inflation in July hit a two-year high, while investors were braced for continued hawkishness from the Federal Reserve ahead of the highly anticipated U.S. inflation data.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange lost 0.8% to $7,920.50 a tonne by 0309 GMT.
China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 2.7% year on year in July, the fastest pace since July 2020 and higher than the 2.5% gain in June, the National Bureau of Statistics said Wednesday.
The factory-gate inflation, however, eased to its weakest since February 2021, as raw material prices fell due to already slower construction activity.
The producer price index (PPI) rose 4.2% year-on-year, after a 6.1% uptick in June.
The U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI), due at 1230 GMT, is expected to show that prices rose at an 8.7% annual pace during July, according to the median estimate of economists polled by Reuters, which would be a small downward correction from June's whopping 9.1%. USCPNY=ECI
Even if the data comes in softer-than-expected, the Fed is expected to continue to hike rates in its September meeting to rein in the inflation with last Friday's strong jobs data denting economic recession fears.
The dollar traded firmly on Wednesday.
The most-traded September copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange dipped 0.3% to 60,990 yuan ($9,026.33) a tonne.
LME zinc fell 1.1% to $3,499 a tonne, lead lost 0.8% to $2,149 a tonne, tin declined 0.8% to $24,235 a tonne.
ShFE zinc rose 2% to 24,675 yuan a tonne, aluminium was up 0.7% to 18,630 yuan a tonne, while nickel SNIcv1 dropped 0.9% to 166,140 yuan,
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($1 = 6.7569 Chinese yuan) (Reporting by Siyi Liu and Emily Chow; editing by Uttaresh.V)
