Gold adds after falling below $800 per troy ounce

Precious metals prices rose Monday but the price of base metals retreated on worries about demand after inventories rose in warehouses in many regions of the world.

December gold added $2.30 to $790 per troy ounce in New York after the price of the metal dropped below $800 per troy ounce, inducing more buyers to jump into the market.

Silver contracts due in December were also higher, adding 36 cents to $9.69 per troy ounce while January platinum gained $11.50 to $892.50 per troy ounce.

December copper, on the other hand, cropped 6 cents to $2.12 per pound in New York and three-month copper fell to a range around $4,720/$4,730 per tonne on the London Metal Exchange as inventories in LME-monitored warehouses, in Hamburg and in St. Louis were up, although inventories fell in South Korea after copper production dropped in China by 1 percent in September from August.

Aluminium prices fell as well, dropping to around $2,131/$2,132 per tonne at the close in London, after new data showed aluminium output down by 3 percent in China in September.

Zinc was down $20 to $1,205 per tonne while lead dropped about $30 to a range around $1,420/$1,430 per tonne, nickel was approximately $300 lower to $10,550 per tonne, and tin closed at around $12,300/$12,350 per tonne, also a decline from Friday’s close.