Nickel inventories rise slightly in LME warehouses

Precious metals prices dropped on Friday as investors took profits, but political tensions heated up by Iran’s capture of 15 British Navy personnel and accompanying rises in oil prices kept the price of gold from falling too far. April gold on the COMEX dropped $6.90, to $657.30 per troy ounce. During the day it traded in the range between $655.20 and $665.30 during the day.

May silver fell a bit more than 25 cents to $13.227 per troy ounce. April platinum was $7.60 lower to $1,233.40 per troy ounce, while June palladium was down $1.75 to $359.50 per troy ounce.

At midday in London, copper traded at $6,800 per tonne. London Metal Exchange copper inventories dropped 4,125 tonnes during the session. Meanwhile, Dresdner Kleinwort has predicted that the price of copper will go as high as $7,600 per tonne this year, mainly due to higher demand in China. Nickel inventories in LME registered warehouses gained a bit, adding 618 tonnes on the day, and the metal traded at $44,450 at mid-session.