Precious, base metals see price gains

Both precious and base metals prices saw advances on Wednesday.

April gold added had added $15.20 to $905.50 per troy ounce by just after the close of floor trade in New York, seeing a gain after recent declines as investor demand increased.

Analysts said that gold could be helped even more if the European Central Bank holds rates steady on Thursday and with speculation that the US Federal Reserve will cut rates again soon, which will tend to put the dollar under further pressure.

Elsewhere among precious metals March silver added 21 cents to $16.55 per troy ounce while April platinum was up $33.50 to $1,819 per troy ounce.

Meanwhile among base metals, copper added 10 cents in New York to trade at $3.31 per pound on worries that supplies will become increasingly tight after London Metal Exchange stockpiles dropped 2,800 tonnes during the day to 171,975 tonnes.

Three-month copper in London added $200 to $7,330 per tonne, or $3.33 per pound, on the inventories declines.

Zinc added $10 to $2,385 per tonne while aluminium gained $17 to $2,642 per tonne, lead was up $41 to $2,820 per tonne, tin was $100 higher to $16,775/$16,800 per tonne, and nickel also gained $100 to $26,900 per tonne.