Copper down $90 on Friday, drops 2.5 percent over week

Gold hit its highest price in three months on Friday as the US dollar continued to weaken when it rose to $648.60 per troy ounce during the day, but by late afternoon in London it was $1 lower than Thursday’s close as it traded around the $646/$647 per troy ounce level. That left gold still 1.2 percent higher for the week. Also late in the day in London, silver was trading at around $13.94/$14.01 per troy ounce and had added 4 percent during the week.

Base metals were mostly lower over the week. Copper dropped $90 on Friday and was 2.5 percent lower for the week to $6,990 per tonne on the London Metal Exchange. Zinc was also lower, falling $70 this week to trade at $4,400 per tonne. Nickel bucked the trend by reaching another record high price on Friday when it traded at $34,400 per tonne. Nickel has added 150 percent since the beginning of the year as stockpiles continue to decline and the development of new sources of the metal run into delays and higher than expected costs.