Copper prices rise despite plentiful supplies

Copper prices were up in New York and London Tuesday as the US dollar weakened.

December copper added 6 cents to $2.86 per pound in New York trade while three-month copper was up $80 to $6,270 per tonne in London.

Despite the gains, there were still worries surrounding the high level of inventories in warehouses monitored by the London Metal Exchange and by the Shanghai Futures Exchange.

LME stockpiles were down 50 tonnes during the session but remained at 331,775 tonnes, close to late May highs, while Shanghai inventories added 7 percent to 104,248 tonnes last week.

Aluminium prices were also up, adding $5 to $1,889 per tonne in London, as stockpiles fell by 4,825 tonnes but still hovered around record highs above 4.6 million tonnes amid news that China imported 14,511 tonnes less primary aluminium in August than it did in July.

Among other base metals, zinc added $27 to $1,946 per tonne while lead was up $74 to $2,289 per tonne, tin was $200 higher to $14,650 per tonne and nickel gained $350 to $17,750 per tonne.

Precious metals prices were also up on the session as December gold added $10.90 to $1,015.80 per troy ounce while December silver was up 24 cents to $1,336 per troy ounce and October platinum gained $17 to $1,336 per troy ounce.