Copper prices fall on inventories, US housing data

Base metals prices were lower Wednesday.

March copper was down 7 cents to $1.61 in early afternoon trade in New York while three-month copper dropped $160 to $3,590 per tonne in London as inventories rose in London Metal Exchange warehouses.

Also hurting the price of copper was news that US housing starts were down again in October and permits for new building projects dropped 12 percent last month to their lowest level since 1960, according to the US Commerce Department.

Gains in inventories also sent the price of aluminium lower in London, where it touched $1,870 per tonne and ended the session $40 lower than Tuesday’s close at $1,878 per tonne.

Aluminium inventories were at their highest in nearly 14 years 81,975 tonnes were added to warehouses to bring total inventories of the metal to more than 1.7 million tonnes.

Prices for aluminium were also hurt by continuing troubles in the US automobile manufacturing sector.

Tin inventories were also higher, adding 225 tones to LME stockpiles, bringing the price of tin down $1,120 on the session to $11,905 per tonne.

Zinc was down $45 to $1,184 per tonne while lead fell $70 to $1,230 per tonne and nickel dropped $450 to $10,300 per tonne.

Among precious metals, December gold traded even in early afternoon trade in New York at $732.70 per troy ounce while December silver had dropped 22 cents to $9.34 per troy ounce.