Base metals fall after US govt closure BASE metals on the London Metal Exchange (LME) have closed after a partial shutdown of the US government due to a budget talk impasse stoked risk aversion on global markets and concerns about growth. At the close of open-outcry trading on Tuesday, LME 3-month copper was 1.4 per cent lower on the day at $US7,199 a metric ton. Aluminium fell 1.0 per cent to $US1,827 a ton. The risk-related metals sank throught the session, as budget gridlock in the US which saw a number of Federal activities suspended, spooked global markets. "With China on holiday it was very much the calm before the storm as London markets opened steady after last night's decent closes with prices buoyed by a weaker (US) dollar," said James Roberts on the Sucden Financial Industrial Commodities Desk. Doom mongers got their way, however, after a lack of (morning) buying left the local market poised long and uncomfortable. Thereafter it was one-way traffic. Congress failed to overcome differences and pass a spending measure by a midnight (US time) deadline, allowing most federal services to shut down Tuesday. The closure leads to the furlough without pay of hundreds of thousands of federal workers and could lead to lower gross domestic product growth (GDP) if it persists. "The US government shutdown has led to a retracement in the commodities as traders look to (the) risk of a downward spike in US GDP," said the Royal Bank of Canada. With the US leading the world recovery is it clear the markets need this economy to be firing on all cylinders if we have a chance of putting the Global economic crisis behind us. The dysfunction in Congress comes just weeks before the government is expected to reach its borrowing limit. Copper is widely used in everyday goods like cars, phones and laptops, and demand for such goods can fall if economic activity stalls.