Three-month CMCU3 copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) fell 0.2% to $8,872 a tonne after falling 1.8% on Monday and hitting a 4-1/2-month low.

LME copper has fallen 21% from its record high of more than $11,100 in May.

Wall Street's major indexes rose in volatile trading on Tuesday after falling sharply the day before, but metals markets remained cautious.

“There seems to have been a bit of a stabilization overnight, but I think the market is still pretty scared of a major recession, no growth, and we haven’t really seen demand in China,” said Robert Montefusco at Sucden Financial. “There’s been a lot of long unwinding, a lot of selling in CTAs, funds, and technicals.”

The most-traded September copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) SCFcv1 fell to its lowest since March 13, closing down 3% at 70,850 yuan.

While weak US data last week raised concerns about a possible recession, expectations of a rate cut could provide support.

Another bright spot was that copper import premiums into China rose to $48 a tonne on Monday, the highest since March 18.

Zinc CMZN3 was the biggest loser on the LME, falling 1.3% to $2,599.50 a tonne after LME data on Tuesday showed inventories rose 8% to 247,825 tonnes. Inventories have tripled in the past nine months.

LME zinc was also the worst performing metal on the LME over the past month, down 14%.

Analysts expect the zinc market to have a surplus of 19,000 tonnes this year, rising to 229,800 tonnes by 2025.

CMPB3 lead rebounded 1.2% to $1,954 a tonne after falling 4.6% in the previous session. "The improved spread window provided some support for lead prices today," brokerage Marex said in a note.

Among other metals, LME aluminium CMAL3 rose 0.8% to $2,267.50 a tonne, tin CMSN3 rose 0.6% to $29,655 while nickel CMNI3 fell 0.5% to $16,200.