Nickel prices up; copper, lead prices lower

Metals prices were mostly lower on Thursday. The exception was nickel, which added 1.9 percent in London to trade at $37,200 per tonne. Copper, however, was down 0.8 percent to $7,460 per tonne on the London Metal Exchange, on gains in LME stockpiles. Continuing strike worries in Latin America prevented copper prices from falling any further. Lead declined as well, falling 1 percent to $2,485 per tonne. Earlier in the day, lead had risen to a record high price of $2,540 per tonne.

Precious metals were lower in early afternoon trade in New York. August gold dropped $5.80 to trade at $654.20 per troy ounce. July silver was 16 cents lower to $13.09, while July platinum dropped $1.80 to trade at $1,299 per troy ounce.