By David Hodari 

Copper prices slipped Thursday, following Chinese stock markets lower on the prospect of slowing global economic growth.

Copper futures for December delivery fell 1.2% to $2.7440 a pound on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, trading at a four-week low. Meanwhile, gold for December delivery inched up 0.2% to $1229.80 a troy ounce.

Global markets have been rocked in recent weeks by a cocktail of concerns including fears about slowing global economic growth -- particularly that of China, the world's largest consumer of copper -- as well as trade war fears and rising bond yields.

While "the underlying Chinese economy is still running smoothly," copper's drop Thursday and "continuing malaise is from the impact of those macro headwinds," said Hunter Hillcoat, a mining analyst at Investec.

Chinese assets were hit by a fresh wave of selling Thursday, with the Chinese yuan dropping to a fresh 21-month low against the dollar. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Wednesday criticized Beijing's "lack of currency transparency," saying that its currency practices pose "major challenges to achieving fairer and more balanced trade."

While Mr. Mnuchin stopped short of calling China a "currency manipulator, " his remarks came after months of sharp rhetoric between the Trump and Xi administrations. Washington also announced it was pulling out of a 144-year-old postal treaty with Beijing that helped Chinese retailers.

Chinese equities indexes were the weakest in the region Thursday, with the Shanghai Composite Index and the Shenzhen A-Share dropping 2.9% and 2.7%, respectively.

Worries of a Chinese slowdown have sharpened investors' focus on the country's economic figures, and assets there could take another hit if analyst forecasts for slowing growth in 2018's third quarter are proven correct when GDP data are released Friday.

Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal forecast growth of 6.6% versus 6.7% in the second quarter, with analysts pointing to softer data in both China's production and consumption sectors.

Elsewhere in the copper sector, Chilean state mining company Codelco has submitted plans to overhaul its Salvador mine and extend its life by 40 years, according to Reuters.

Write to David Hodari at David.Hodari@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 18, 2018 12:10 ET (16:10 GMT)