Precious metals prices gain; base metals decline

Precious metals prices were higher on Tuesday as investors bet that demand for gold will rise along with US equities markets.

December gold added $9.60 in New York to $691.50 per troy ounce, the biggest gain for a front-month contract since the beginning of June in turn-around from recent weeks when investors were selling gold as equities markets declined.

December silver was up 22 cents to $12.45 per troy ounce, while October platinum gained $2.10 to $1,273.70 per troy ounce.

In base metals, meanwhile, December copper fell 9 cents to $3.31 per pound in New York, while three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was $129 lower at last report to $7,270 per tonne.

The decline in copper came as the Institute for Supply Management reported that manufacturing activity was down in August on lower factory orders, making expansion less likely in the second half of the year, while separate data showed that spending on construction dropped by 0.4 percent in July and LME stockpiles of the metal added 525 tonnes to raise inventories to their highest level since mid-May.

All of this has fed fears that demand for copper may be down.

Other base metals were lower in London, including nickel, which dropped 3.7 percent on the session.