Metals prices mixed

Base metals prices were mixed but mostly higher on Wednesday.

March copper added 7 cents to $2.96 per pound in New York, while three-month copper was $135 higher to $6,515 per tonne in London.

While prices were higher, some analysts question whether those gains can be sustained, especially after London Metal Exchange inventories of the metal added 275 tonnes on the session to 195,925 tonnes, bringing the total stockpiles gain to more than 30 percent in the past two months.

Aluminium added $17 to $2,428 per tonne while lead was up $71 to $2,526 per tonne and nickel gained $750 to $26,650 per tonne.

Zinc was $7 lower to $2,308 per tonne, while tin remained untraded on the session but was quoted in a range around $16,150/$16,160 per tonne, up from Tuesday’s quote.

Meanwhile, prices for precious metals were mixed on the session as well.

February gold dropped $1.70 in New York to $805.70 per troy ounce after the US dollar gained on the euro, while March silver added 6 cents to $14.22 per troy ounce and January platinum gained $8.50 to $1,523.80 per troy ounce.