Lead, copper prices lower on inventories

Most base metals prices were lower on Wednesday as traders worried about gains in stockpiles and a slowdown in the global economy.

Lead was $160 lower to $3,590 per tonne on the London Metal Exchange after going as low as $3,500 per tonne earlier as LME stockpiles sat at 40,000 tonnes, twice their level last month.

Three-month copper was $165 lower to $7,315 per tonne in London after going as low as $7,303 per tonne, while in New York December contracts for the metal dropped 8 cents to $3.26 per pound.

LME copper inventories have climbed to almost 170,000 tonnes, and traders are worried about growing supplies at a time when fewer houses are being built, especially in the United States, and about weakness in equities markets that could signal declining demand.

Aluminium dropped $22 to $2,623 per tonne, but not before rising to $2,661 per tonne, its highest level since the beginning of August and zinc was down $55 to $2,765 per tonne after going as high as $2,870 per tonne in early trade.

Tin touched a new record at $17,225 per tonne on the possibility of supply problems out of Indonesia, but it ended lower as it traded around $16,925/$16,950 at the end of the session.

The price of nickel climbed slightly as it closed at $32,225 per tonne.