Copper lower on data

Copper prices were lower Tuesday as retail sales data from the US Commerce Department renewed concerns that the US is either already in or is heading for a recession.

A recession in the US, which uses about 15 percent of the copper produced in the world would likely hurt demand for the metal.

March copper dropped 10 cents to $3.24 per pound in New York, while three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange fell $240 to $7,160 per tonne.

The declines came even though LME stockpiles dropped by 4,500 tonnes due to the fact that the actual amount available was up by 425 tonnes.

Among other base metals, zinc closed at $2,300 per tonne, a decline of $96 on the day, after going as low as $2,295 per tonne.

Aluminium dropped $65 to $2,483 per tonne while nickel was down $900 to $28,400 per tonne.

Tin was at $16,215 per tonne and lead ended the session at $2,655 per tonne.