Copper prices fall in New York, London

The price of copper declined Monday as London Metal Exchange stockpiles grew again on the session and analysts remained worried about what that growth means for future growth of demand for the metal used in manufacturing and construction.

December copper was down 4 cents to $2.80 per pound in New York trade while three-month copper was 1.8 percent lower to $6,140 per tonne in London and the price of copper in Shanghai fell by the exchange limit of 5 percent in the face of a brewing trade dispute between China and the United States and after inventories in Shanghai-monitored warehouses grew by 12 percent last week.

LME inventories were up 0.5 percent just today to 319,800 tonnes, its highest in over two years.

Still, despite the demand concerns brought about by growing copper inventories, Goldman Sachs last week advised its clients to buy December 2010 contracts for the metal, predicting growing demand and a concurrent growth in its price to $7,650 per tonne by the end of next year.

Other base metals were also lower in London, but lead prices climbed on the session.

Most precious metals prices were also lower on the possibility that investors will sell out of long positions on gold, essentially bets that the price will rise.

December gold dropped $5.30 to $1,001.10 per troy ounce while December silver was 8 cents lower to $16.62 per troy ounce and October platinum dropped $1 to $1,318 per troy ounce.

On the other hand, December palladium was $1.25 higher to $295.75 per troy ounce in New York.