Copper lower; precious metals see gains

On a mixed day for base metals prices, copper prices fell Thursday even though new jobs data in a private report on private sector employment showed that fewer jobs were lost in April than had been anticipated, implying that the economy could be improving.

In addition, declines in some equities markets made investors hesitate as they waited for the official results of the US government’s examinations of banks’ health, due for release later in the day Thursday, and for Labor Department unemployment numbers for April, which will be reported on Friday.

In late morning trade in New York, July copper was down 3 cents to $2.16 per pound, while in afternoon trade in London three-month copper dropped $70 to $4,680 per tonne on the London Metal Exchange even though LME inventories of the metal fell by 8,250 tonnes during the session.

At the same time in London, aluminium prices were unchanged from Wednesday’s close at $1,570 per tonne as another 5,000 tonnes were added to LME stockpiles already at record highs, while zinc was $10 lower to $1,587 per tonne.

Other metals used in industry saw prices go higher as lead added $10 to $1,460 per tonne, tin was $95 higher than Wednesday’s close at $13,500 per tonne and nickel had gained $301 to $13,001 per tonne.

Precious metals prices were higher after the European Central Bank cut Eurozone interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point to 1 percent.

At just before noon in New York, June gold had added $4 to $915 per troy ounce while just a bit earlier July silver was reported to be trading even with Wednesday’s close at $13.71 per troy ounce.

Platinum and palladium were both up in morning trade, with July platinum up $10.90 to $1,154 per troy ounce and June palladium had added $10.65 to $238.70 per troy ounce.