Copper held to small decline by US home sales data

Copper prices were lower in New York Wednesday on gains for the US dollar that hurt demand for the metal, but declines were held to a minimum after the National Association of Realtors said that sales of existing homes in the US were up 2.9 percent in April.

July copper was 2 cents lower to $2.12 per pound in New York, but three-month copper was up $5 to $4,665 per tonne on the London Metal Exchange after inventories in LME warehouses fell for the 14th session in a row to 319.275 tonnes and after Shanghai-monitored stockpiles were reported down as well.

Prices for most other industrial metals were also lower, including a $42 decline for aluminium to $1,410 per tonne, but lead saw gains as it traded at $1,450 per tonne in London.

Among precious metals, August gold was up 40 cents to $955.50 per troy ounce while July silver added 27 cents to $14.87 per troy ounce and July platinum was $1.30 higher to $1.141.10 per troy ounce.