Zinc prices gain on low inventories

Base metals prices were mixed on Tuesday as copper, nickel and lead declined but zinc was higher on shrinking stockpiles.

Zinc added 0.9 percent to $3,725 per tonne on the London Metal Exchange as inventories in LME warehouses dropped by 650 tonnes to barely two days worth of global consumption.

Copper dropped 0.7 percent to $7,965 per tonne in London as strike worries faded.

The decline came even though LME stockpiles of copper dropped by 275 tonnes and Citigroup (NYSE: C) upped its predicted copper prices for next year based on a forecast of declining supplies and increased demand.

In New York, meanwhile, the price of copper dropped 4 cents to $3.62 per pound.

Lead prices were also 0.7 percent lower in London, trading at $3,365 per tonne.

The price of nickel fell 3.6 percent to $32,200 per tonne as LME inventories were at their highest level in over a year after another 804 tonnes of the metal were added to stockpiles and Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) suggested that the price could drop as low as $25,000 per tonne before rising back to around $35,000 per tonne.