UPDATE AT 10 AM ON NOVEMBER 13

London copper futures touched a new three-year low

on Thursday, while Shanghai futures dropped to their

weakest in four years, pressured by worriesabout a global

slowdown in demand. Persistent concerns about a global

economic recession weighed on commodity prices

overnight, driving down oil and gold steeply, but base metals

were less affected as analysts believed the response from

miners may be starting to support sentiment. Oil slid for a third

straight day to hit a 22-month low of $55 a barrel, as mounting

pessimism about the global economy wei gh OPEC's comments

that it could cut output gain as early as end-November.

Global copper production may have been trimmed by around

2percent annually, while zinc output will fall by around 500,000

tonnes or 3.5 percent of capacity and nickel output cuts may

reduce supply by the equivalent of 6 percent of worldproduction,

analysts said. China's refined copper production tumbled 8 percent

on the year to293,900 tonnes in October, said the National

Bureau of statisticsm output fell 0.9 percent, nickel fell 18

percent but zinc output rose 3.6 percent.

London Metal Exchange copper fell 0.6 percent to$3,600 a

tonne at 0230 GMT. Prices earlier dropped 2.1 percentto to $3,545

a tonne, their weakest since September 2005.