Copper pares gains on US retail data

Metals prices were mixed Friday as copper saw gains on advances in global equities markets but lost some of those gains after Wall Street declined on the news that US retail sales fell by a record amount in October.

March copper added 9 cents to $1.72 per pound in New York while three-month copper was up $190 to $3,820 per tonne in London even though stockpiles of the metal used in home construction and other industrial applications added 1,475 tonnes in London Metal Exchange warehouses.

Other base metals seeing gains included tin, with a gain of $200 to $13,900 per tonne, while lead was up $12 to $1,350 per tonne.

Aluminium dropped $3 to $1,925 per tonne after LME inventories added 1,075 tonnes to around 1.6 million tonnes while zinc was down $10 to $1,200 per tonne and nickel plummeted $450 to $11,000 per tonne.

Precious metals, meanwhile, saw gains as December gold added $37 to $742 per troy ounce, December silver was up 70 cents to $9.50 per troy ounce and January platinum gained $32.10 to $845.10 per troy ounce.