Lead adds $35 per tonne on LME

Base metals prices hit record prices Monday, but not all of them maintained the gains by the end of the session. Lead added $35 dollars to trade at $1,765 per tonne by the end of the session after reaching a record high of $1,772.5 per tonne earlier in the day. Lead prices are up 61 percent so far this year as London Metal Exchange inventories have dropped by around 10 percent to their present level of 43,600 tonnes. Demand for the metal is mostly due to its use in lead-acid batteries for cars.

Tin hit a high of $11,325 per tonne before dropping back to $11,100 per tonne late in the session. Prices are up 70 percent this year while stockpiles have gone down by 18 percent. Meanwhile, copper added $50 to $6,930 per tonne, while aluminium dropped $30 to trade at $2,795 per tonne.

In precious metals, gold added $5 to trade at $629.00/$629.55 per troy ounce, while silver was up around 11 cents to trade in the $13.67/$13.74 range.