Metals prices drop slightly

Some metals prices were slightly lower on Tuesday in what analysts called a consolidation.

Silver was a bit higher, trading at $11.77 per troy ounce, but analysts questioned the claims by some traders that its price could go as high as $15 per troy ounce soon.

Gold dropped to $586.40 per troy ounce after hitting a 25-year peak of $591.50 per troy ounce on Monday.

Copper was down to $5,553 per tonne after reaching a new high of $5,616 per tonne on Monday. The decline came even though it was reported that inventories in London Metal Exchange warehouses had dropped by 4,500 tonnes.

Zinc dropped by 1.8 percent to $2,690 per tonne after having reached a new record of $2,750 per tonne during the day.

Three-month nickel dropped 0.9 percent to $15,850 per tonne. The decline came after the owner of a nickel mine in New Guinea said that vandalism by local opponents of the mine would cost $10 million to repair. There was not estimate of when the mine might be repaired and reopened.