Base metals prices down on inventories

Base metals prices fell on Monday as inventories climbed for several of the metals used in industrial applications.

Zinc was down $77 to $2,288 per tonne as inventories climbed by 5,075 during the session and after it became clear that only a small amount of smelting capacity - about 300,000 tonnes, or about 1 percent of China’s yearly production - was affected by last week’s earthquake there, not enough to reduce forecasts of zinc surpluses this year.

Copper was down 5 cents to $3.78 per pound in New York and was $124 lower to $8,320 per tonne in London on a gain of 1,500 tonnes into stockpiles and on less than robust demand from China, while aluminium prices dropped $43 to $2,995 per tonne on an additional 10,425 tonnes into inventories and lead was $115 lower to $2,230 per tonne as stockpiles have risen by over 40 percent this year.

Nickel fell $325 to $26,100 per tonne while tin dropped $600 to $24,050 per tonne after hitting a record high at $25,500 per tonne last Thursday.

On the other hand, precious metals saw gains as June gold added $5.90 to $905.80 per troy ounce in New York as investors looked for safe ways to protect their money from inflation while July silver was up 7 cents to $17.03 per troy ounce and July platinum gained $26.20 to $2,158.20 per troy ounce.