Copper prices drop to three-month low

Copper prices were at their lowest in three months on Friday as equities markets declined globally and as it seemed that demand from China would decline after some analysts said that the Asian nation has imported more copper than it has needed to in the year so far.

In addition, London Metal Exchange inventories added another 1,900 tonnes to inventories on the session.

Three-month copper on the LME dropped $160 to $7,040 per tonne on the session and traded as low as $5,963 per tonne during the day, while in New York December contracts for the metal fell 6 cents to $3.15 per pound.

Among other base metals, aluminium was $20 lower to $2,160 per tonne and zinc dropped $50 to $2,725 per tonne, while tin added $175 to $16,950 per tonne, lead was up to trade at $2,540 per tonne and nickel closed at $33,800 per tonne on the session.

Among precious metals, December gold dropped $2.80 to $834.70 per troy ounce by the end of floor trade, but it still managed to gain 3.2 percent on the week.

January platinum fell $47.60 to $1,426 per troy ounce, its biggest one-day decline since Oct. 2 on fears of slowing demand while December palladium dropped $1.25 lower on the session to $376.25 per troy ounce but silver added 3 cents to $15.55 per troy ounce.

Crude oil prices were higher as analysts could not agree on whether crude will rise to $100 per barrel soon or will turn around and decline significantly.

December contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude were up 94 cents to $96.40 per barrel near the close of floor trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange while Brent crude was 27 cents higher to $93.06 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

Nymex December gasoline added 2 cents to $2.46 per gallon while December heating oil gained 3 cents to $2.63 per gallon and January natural gas was up 17 cents to $8.29 per million British thermal units.

Grains prices were mixed at last report, with January soybeans on the Chicago Board of Trade adding 14.75 cents to $10.56 per bushel but December corn falling 2.75 cents to $3.86 per bushel and December wheat holding steady at $7.62 per bushel.

Story link: Copper prices drop to three-month low