Gold drops $22 on stronger dollar

Most metals prices were lower Monday, with gold falling on a stronger dollar and base metals dropping after copper and aluminium stockpiles were up significantly in London.

February gold dropped $21.70 to $857.80 per troy ounce in New York trade and was as low as $843.50 per troy ounce earlier in the session, while March silver dropped 22 cents to $11.27  per troy ounce.

March palladium was also down on the New York session, to $184.95 per troy ounce, but April platinum added $10.90 to $957.60 per troy ounce.

Copper for March delivery traded even in New York at $1.46 per pound, but in mid-afternoon trade in London it had dropped $95 to $3,136 per tonne after a report that London Metal Exchange inventories added 1,500 tonnes on the session to 342.050 tonnes, their highest level since 6 February 2004.

At the same time, aluminium fell $21.75 to $1,548.25 per tonne after stockpiles grew by 6,925 tonnes to 2.34 million tonnes, the of that metal in LME storage in more than 14 years.

Nickel, tin, lead and zinc were all also lower in afternoon trade in London.