Aluminium falls amid gains for other base metals

Base metals prices were mixed Wednesday, although aluminium was down $19.50 to $2,675.50 per tonne after London Metal Exchange inventories added 2,650 tonnes to 1.17 million tonnes, the most aluminium in storage in four and a half years.

December copper was up 4 cents to $3.31 per pound in New York in afternoon trade while three-month copper in London added $75 to $7,345 per tonne as lower prices brought the buyers out.

Gains for copper were held in check, however, by lower oil prices, a stronger US dollar and inventories that gained 725 tonnes to 180,525 tonnes in LME warehouses, their highest since the beginning of the year.

Lead added $41 to $1,950 per tonne after inventories in LME warehouses dropped 700 tonnes to 79,150 tonnes.

Zinc was up $13 to around $1,788 per tonne while tin went as high as $19,800 per tonne before settling in to trade in a range around $19,350/$19,400 per tonne, a gain of about $200 on the session and nickel also jumped around $200, to trade around $19,550/$19,600 per tonne.

Precious metals prices, however, saw declines on the session.

December gold was $2.20 lower to $808.30 per troy ounce while December silver fell 20 cents to $12.95 per troy ounce and October platinum dropped $11.30 to $1,392.20 per troy ounce.