Copper sees gains on LME inventory declines

The price of copper was up in afternoon trade in New York Wednesday, adding 8 cents to $2.21 per pound not long before the close of floor trade, while three-month copper added $112 to $4,811 per tonne in London.

The gains came after London Metal Exchange inventories of the metal dropped 2.4 percent to 480,400 tonnes, their biggest one-day decline in nearly six months.

Most analysts expect copper prices to continue their gains, but some worry that gains could be limited after the Federal Reserve said that US industrial production was down by 1.5 percent in March, signaling that the US economy is still in trouble.

Precious metals were up as well, with gold seeing gains at the end of floor trade in New York after a day of prices changes that matched an up-and-down day for US equities markets.

June gold was up $1.50 to $893.50 per troy ounce while May silver added 4 cents to $12.80 per troy ounce and July platinum gained $6.70 to $1,225 per troy ounce.