Copper prices lower on wage agreement

The price of copper dropped Monday after workers for Southern Copper (NYSE: PCU) came to a wage agreement with the company Saturday.

December copper in New York fell 2 cents to $3.52 per pound, while three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was down $25 to $7,845 per tonne after rising as high as $7,969 per tonne earlier in the day.

Other factors affecting the price of copper included the decline of the US dollar to a new low versus the euro and gains in LME stockpiles.

Inventories of copper in LME warehouses have risen to above 150,000 tonnes, three days of global consumption, and are only likely to increase with striking miners back at work.

Among other base metals, zinc added just $5 to $2,905 per tonne while tin was up to $16,850 per tonne from $16,450/$16,500, but aluminium had dropped $13 to $2,525 per tonne while lead was down $20 to $3,640 per tonne and nickel fell $250 to $31,550.

Xstrata (LSE: XTA) bid for Australian nickel miner Jubilee Mines (SYD: JBM), but the bid was said to have had little effect on prices, as Jubilee provides less than 1 percent of the world’s nickel.