Shanghai copper was unchanged on Tuesday following a 2% fall in the previous session, shored up after London futures recovered from selling pressure early on Monday.
The most-active September copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange was at 63 050 yuan at the midday break.
China's main stock index has fallen by over 3 percent a day over the past three sessions, hit by worries the government will launch additional measures to cool down the economy, dragging metals prices lower in its wake.
"Copper is being heavily affected by the stock market," Shen Haihua, deputy general manager of Maike Futures, said.
He said consumption of copper in China had slowed in the second quarter.
"Growth of copper consumption is likely to rise 12 to 15 percent in the second quarter versus a 18 percent rise in the first quarter," he said.
Copper for delivery in three months on the London Metal Exchange was $80 lower at $7 400 at 0348 GMT.
On Monday, prices dropped to $7,240, the lowest since June 14, before recovering at the close as strikes got under way in South America.
"Copper, initially unreactive to news of strike action at Southern Copper's Peruvian operations, belatedly picked up in the afternoon on the long anticipated news that Codelco's subcontractors had gone on strike en-masse," Standard Bank, London, said in a note.
Workers blocked roads and set fire to buses close to mines owned by Chilean copper miner Codelco, as subcontractors staged protests that Codelco said had only a limited impact on production.
Elsewhere in South America, Southern Copper Corp. described a strike at its operations in Peru as "partial."
"There are on average around 30 to 35 percent of workers on the job," Alberto Giles, the director of human resources at Southern Copper, told Reuters by telephone, adding it was too early to determine the effect on output.
A strike at Xstrata PLC's 370 000 ton-per-year CCR refinery in Montreal, that has cut production to around one-third of capacity, is entering its second week.
Low LME stocks are adding to market concerns about supply losses despite a 1,200-tonne rise on Monday bringing inventories to 119,025 tonnes. Stocks are equivalent to just over two days of world consumption and are down about 100 000 tons since early February.
Dealers said the market could see further deliveries as Chinese merchants divert material, originally bound for Shanghai, to LME warehouses elsewhere in Asia because of weak domestic prices.
Three-month LME lead was down $40 at $2 670, after hitting a record $2 710 at the close on Monday and is up 60 percent this year.
Falling exports from China and the closure of a large mine in Western Australia are fuelling a surge of speculative interest in the metal mostly used in batteries.
"Cash lead prices have passed cash aluminium," Australia and New Zealand Bank analyst Andrew Harrington said. Cash lead was most recently indicated at $2 720 a ton while cash aluminium was at $2 668.
"That's the first time in my experience that has happened and seems a bit odd. Aluminium is an expensive and energy-intensive element to extract compared to lead," he noted.
"Historically, aluminium has traded at a premium of at least $600 to lead and the differential got up to $3 000 in the late 1980s."
Most-traded Shanghai September zinc continued to slide after falling by its 4 daily limit on Monday. The contract was down 1,7 percent at 26,640 yuan and is nearly 8 percent lower than at its launch in March.
Dealers said zinc was under pressure after Shanghai stocks rose by 3 810 tonnes to 45 148 last week. LME zinc was down $80 at $3 450.
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