Gold, copper decline

In the precious metals markets on Thursday, gold was down $8 after a sell-off late in the day, trading at $685.80/$683.60 per troy ounce.

In base metals, copper was also down on the day, losing $30 to $8,090 per tonne on the London Metal Exchange. The decline came after a report from the International Copper Study Group that showed a surplus of 52,000 tonnes of copper in February. Added to January’s surplus, the total surplus copper for the first two months of the year came to 117,000 tonnes, in contrast to a deficit of 55,000 tonnes for the same two months last year. Consumption for January and February this year was down 0.5 percent globally, according to the report, with Chinese consumption down 5.2 percent, EU usage down 4.7 percent, and US usage down 3.4 percent in the two months. Production was up in Australia, Congo, Peru, and Zambia, while it fell in Brazil, China, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Mexico, and the US. Copper production in Chile remained unchanged.