Aluminium prices up on Guinea political troubles

In metals markets on Tuesday, gold traded at $668.40 per troy ounce, a seven-month high. The gains in gold prices came as the US dollar was weaker in reaction to a larger than expected trade deficit in December.

Among base metals, tin was lower after hitting a 22-year high on Monday. Continuing worries about supplies from Indonesia had tin trading at $12,550 per tonne on Tuesday. Copper added a bit over 3 percent on the session to $5,690 per tonne as London Metal Exchange inventories declined and as it was revealed that China’s copper imports grew by 44 percent in January. Aluminium was 4 percent higher to $2,820 per tonne after martial law was declared in Guinea in response to violence related to a general strike against that nation’s government. Guinea is the worlds largest exporter of bauxite, the ore from which aluminium is made.