Zinc inventories up but still tight

Metals prices were lower on Tuesday’s session. In precious metals, by early afternoon trade in New York August gold had dropped $5.90 to trade at $653.10 per troy ounce after having traded in a range between $650 and $656. July silver was 19 cents lower to $13.09 per troy ounce, while July platinum had dropped $1.60 to trade at $1,296.40 per troy ounce.

Among base metals, zinc was 0.8 percent lower to $3,720 per tonne on London after London Metal Exchange inventories added 850 tonnes but remained remarkably tight. Copper prices were 2.1 percent lower to $7,203.5 per tonne on new data showing imports to China were down significantly in May. Analysts said that declines were limited by the possibility of strikes in Mexico and Chile. Nickel fell 5.6 percent to $40,100 per tonne and dropped below the $40,000 level for a time during the session. The decline brought the drop in nickel prices to 22.4 percent since early May.