Zinc up on lower inventories

Prices for precious metals were mixed on Wednesday. Gold added 0.4 percent to $628.80 per troy ounce, but platinum prices dropped 6.9 percent to $1,145 per troy ounce on continuing rumors that an exchange-traded fund for the metal will be introduced soon.

Base metals were also mixed. Zinc added 1.7 percent to $4,365 per tonne as inventories in London Metal Exchange warehouses dropped another 500 tonnes to 89,000 tonnes. However, nickel dropped 0.5 percent to $31,150 even though LME stockpiles fell another 534 tonnes to below 6,900 tonnes. Copper was also lower, by 1.2 percent to $6,895 per tonne.