Copper, zinc see gains

Three-month copper in London was up as much as $201 to $8,261 per tonne on Monday before it fell back to $8,150 per tonne, still $90 higher on the day, while in New York December copper added 3 cents to $3.69 per pound.

A report that New York state manufacturing activity grew unexpectedly in October helped prices rise.

Copper prices were higher even though stockpiles in London Metal Exchange warehouses grew by 1,500 tonnes and traders predicted that inventories would grow even more as Chinese supplies were added to copper in storage.

Base metals prices were mixed on the session.

Besides copper’s gains, zinc added $15 to $3,140 per tonne in London, but aluminium dropped $12 to $2,493 per tonne while lead was down $20 to $3,800 per tonne and nickel fell $50 to $31,950 per tonne.