Base metals prices decline on demand concerns

Prices for copper and other base metals declined on Monday on wide worries about demand as worries accelerated about the slowing of the global economy.

Worries about copper demand came on the likelihood that inflation worries will keep the US Federal Reserve from cutting interest rates further to stimulate economic growth and on concerns that demand from China will not make up for decreased demand in the United States, as had been hoped earlier.

March Copper dropped 7 cents to $2.89 per pound in New York after comments from former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan highlighted worries about the slowing economy, while three-month copper in London fell $170 to $6,375 per tonne after going as low as $6,357 per tonne earlier in the session, its lowest level there since mid-March.

Aluminium dropped $5 to $2,410 per tonne and was down to $2,393 per tonne earlier in the day as analysts worried about US demand for that metal as well.

Among other base metals, zinc dropped $28 to $2,297 per tonne while lead was down $50 to $2,430 per tonne, tin was $150 lower to $16,050 per tonne, and nickel fell $800 to $25,700 per tonne.