Copper prices fall on day, gain this week

The price of copper fell Friday but was up on the week as the dollar weakened during the week and demand grew as investors looked to commodities as a good alternative investment.

May copper was down 1 cent to $1.80 per pound in New York and was $39 lower to $3,960 per tonne in London on Friday but was up 7.9 percent on the week in London.

Inventories were up again, rising above 500,000 tonnes again in London Metal Exchange warehouses as Barclays Bank (LSE: BARC; NYSE: BCS; TYO: 8642) said that recent gains in metals prices are not likely to hold.

Barclays’ analysts also predicted that aluminium prices could drop to $1,000 per tonne as stockpiles have reached record highs, with LME inventories at 3.45 million tonnes.

The gains in stockpiles are not likely to slow, Barclays said, unless production is cut significantly.

The price of three-month aluminium dropped $8 to $1,455 per tonne on the session.

Zinc, nickel and tin prices also fell, but lead advanced to $1,364.75 per tonne.

Precious metals prices were mixed as April gold fell $2.60 to $956.20 per troy ounce in New York and April platinum dropped $7.60 to $1,111.50 per troy ounce but May silver added 30 cents to $13.82 per troy ounce.