Copper prices lower on stockpiles, sentiment

Copper prices were lower Friday on sentiment that a recent rally went too far considering gains in stockpiles in London Metal Exchange-monitored warehouses.

LME stockpiles have added 14 percent in the past month and were up to 292,875 tonnes on today’s session, while Shanghai inventories have also seen gains and are up 20 percent just this week.

September copper was 8 cents lower to $2.84 per pound in New York trade, while three-month copper was down 2.2 percent to $6,240 per tonne in London.

Other base metals prices were also down substantially on the session, with declines from 3.7 percent for aluminum to 5 percent for nickel, which traded down $1,030 to $19,575 per tonne.

Zinc traded at $1,824 per tonne in London, while lead was at $1,850 per tonne, aluminium sold for $1,983 per tonne and tin traded at $14,510 per tonne.

Precious metals were also lower, following US equities markets which also declined.

December gold fell $7.80 to $948.70 per troy ounce while September silver was down 27 cents to $14.72 per troy ounce and October platinum dropped $11 to $1,261.70 per troy ounce.