Copper prices in London hit their lowest in seven weeks on Tuesday, under pressure from a stronger dollar, rising inventories and weak indicators in top metals consumer China.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) fell 2% to $9,698 per metric ton in official open-outcry trading after hitting $9,680, the lowest since April 23.

Copper, used in power and construction, touched a record high of $11,104.5 on May 20.

"Chinese fabricator demand for copper remains soft as copper prices are still quite elevated despite a drop from record highs," said Amelia Xiao Fu, head of commodity market strategy at Bank of China International.

"Unless U.S. Federal Reserve rate cut expectation starts to increase and copper demand starts to improve, copper prices could remain in a trading range between $9,500-10,500 a ton," she added.

Copper inventories in warehouses monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) are at more than four-year highs, and copper spot premiums in China remain weak.

"While copper benefits from a supportive medium- to longer-term market backdrop characterised by rising demand from the clean energy and renewable sectors and concerns over mine-supply growth, current demand indicators continue to look soft," Standard Chartered analyst Sudakshina Unnikrishnan said.

China's yuan fell against the U.S. dollar to its lowest in nearly seven months as investors returned from a long weekend break to play catch-up with broad greenback strength in overseas markets.

"There was an expectation that there would be buying when SHFE reopened after the Chinese holiday. When there was no continuation of yesterday's rally, it looks like a bit of long liquidation came into the market," a trader said. Copper rose by 1.4% on Monday.

Further worsening the sentiment, iron ore futures in China

fell

to a two-month low on Tuesday amid concerns over demand prospects, while copper stocks in the LME-registered warehouses rose after 2,200 tons of inflows to 127,325 tons, the strongest in more than three months.

LME aluminium eased 1.5% to $2,533 a ton in official activity after hitting $2,529, its lowest since May 14.

Zinc fell 2.8% to $2,770, lead dropped 1.3% to $2,179, tin edged down 0.2% to $31,950, and nickel declined 0.2% to $17,850.

(Reporting by Polina Devitt in London; additional reporting by Mai Nguyen in Hanoi; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Tasim Zahid)