Metals prices mixed on lower oil, inventories and strike issues

In the metals markets on Monday, gold dropped 2 percent to $583.70 per troy ounce, following oil downward, while silver traded at $11.62 per troy ounce, platinum was at $1,067 per troy ounce, and palladium traded at $315 per troy ounce.

Base metals were mixed, with nickel and tin higher but zinc, copper, and aluminium lower. Nickel added 1.1 percent to $32,400 per tonne, retreating from a new high of $32,700 earlier in the session, as inventories were at less than a day’s global consumption and a strike continued at a smelter in New Caldedonia. Tin was 2.5 percent higher to $10,400 per tonne with around 20 smelters in Indonesia still shuttered by the government there.

Copper was 0.2 percent lower to $7,545 per tonne, aluminium dropped 0.4 percent to $2,707 per tonne, and zinc fell 1.1 percent to $3,925 per tonne even though London Metal Exchange inventories were down by 2,500 tonnes to 122,400 tonnes of available metal.