Copper, other metals gain again

The price of copper was up again Tuesday, helped by the recent good news on US manufacturing and the US gross national product.

March copper was up a cent to $3.09 per pound in New York trade, while three-month contracts for the metal added $29 to $6,820 per tonne on the London Metal Exchange.

Also tending to send copper prices higher was a decline of 2,375 tonnes in LME-monitored inventories, their biggest one-day decline since July 2009.

Some analysts, however, are predicting that copper prices will fall this year, perhaps to as low as $3,000 to $4,000 per tonne.

Among other base metals, zinc added about $15 to around $2,160 per tonne in London, while aluminium was up $35 to $2,120 per tonne, lead was $73 higher to $2,118 per tonne and tin and nickel each added $300 on the session, to $16,450 per tonne and $18,,300 per tonne respectively.

Precious metals were higher in New York trade as April gold added $13 to $1,118 per troy ounce, March silver was up $8 cents to $16.74 per troy ounce, and April platinum gained $39.50 to $1,578.80 per troy ounce.