ASX copper shares are sinking amid the commodity dropping to its lowest price in 19 months.
Copper explorers in the red today include Sandfire Resources Ltd (ASX: SFR), OZ Minerals Ltd (ASX: OZL) and Austral Resources Australia Ltd (ASX: AR1). Hot Chili Ltd (ASX: HCH) shares and Copper Mountain Mining Corporation (ASX: C6C) are also lower today.
So what is going on with these ASX copper shares?
Copper prices slide
The Sandfire share price has shed 5.42% while Oz Minerals shares have slid 2.58%. Meanwhile, the Austral share price has fallen 7.37%, Hot Chili shares have lost 6.33%, and Copper Mountain is down 6.92%.
Copper prices fell to a 19-month low amid recession fears, Bloomberg reported.
Copper closed at US$7,670 per tonne on the London Metal Exchange. However, during the day, the copper price shed 5.1% to US$7,597 a tonne, its lowest point since December 2020.
Global recession concerns are "continuing to predominate on the metals markets", Commerzbank AG analyst Carsten Fritsch told Bloomberg. He added:
Sentiment in US industry is becoming more gloomy, in other words; we interpret this as a sign that the US economy is losing momentum
Commenting on base metal prices, ANZ senior economist Catherine Birch said copper "led the sector lower". In an ANZ Research report, she added:
Sentiment was further hit following the new outbreak of COVID-19 cases in Shanghai.
Meanwhile, one broker has upgraded the OZ Minerals share price from hold to add, as my Foolish colleague Brendon reported this morning. The broker thinks the company's shares are "far too oversold".
