Dollar strength hurts metals prices

Metals prices dropped Wednesday as the dollar strengthened to make metals more expensive for investors buying in other currencies and as worries about the erosion of demand continued.

December copper was down 14 cents to $1.87 per pound in New York while three-month copper dropped $340 to $4,160 per tonne in London as inventories in London Metal Exchange warehouses added 1,850 tonnes on the session.

Zinc was down $25 to $1,140 per tonne while aluminium fell $26 to $2,002 per tonne, lead fell about $110 to $1,260/$1,261 per tonne, nickel was about $700 lower to $10,000 per tonne and tin dropped $750 to $11,550 per tonne.

Both copper and aluminium were at three-year lows during the session as copper went as low as $4,099 per tonne and aluminium plummeted to $1,976 per tonne before recovering part of its losses.

Meanwhile, a stronger dollar also reduced the appeal of gold, which dropped below $750 per troy ounce for the first time in over a month.

December gold was down $33.50 to $734.50 per troy ounce in New York, while December silver fell 62 cents to $9.46 per troy ounce and January platinum dropped $34.50 to $857.20 per troy ounce.