Copper drops 20 cents per pound in New York trade

Copper prices fell sharply Thursday on a stronger dollar and gains in stockpiles of the metal in London Metal Exchange warehouses.

December copper was down 20 cents to $1.89 per pound in New York while three-month copper dropped $445 to $4,210 per tonne after gaining over 12 percent on Wednesday as LME inventories added 6,575 tonnes to 223,875 tonnes.

Also hurting copper prices was a new report from the US Commerce Department showing that the gross national product there contracted in the third quarter.

In other base metals, lead was down $60 to $1,520 per tonne while aluminium fell $86 to $2,065 per tonne, zinc was $100 lower to $1,160 per tonne and nickel dropped $1,740 to $11,900 per tonne.

Zinc’s decline was also tied to rising stockpiles, which stood at 182,100 tonnes in LME warehouses.

Meanwhile among precious metals, December gold dropped $15.50 to $738.50 per troy ounce in New York trade while December silver ropped 2 cents to $9.79 per troy ounce but January platinum jumped $14 to $830.60.