Goldman Sachs charges continue to hurt copper prices

Metals prices were lower Monday in New York and London as concerns built over civil fraud charges against Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) and how they would affect commodities trade, especially if new regulations are put into place to curb risky deals by banks.

Goldman Sachs, a top commodities broker, was slapped with charges in the United States on Friday by the Securities and Exchange Commission, and Monday found UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown asking the Financial Services Authority to probe the bank’s operations in the UK while German’s financial regulator asked the SEC for information about its investigation.

Prices were also hurt and questions raised about demand in China as the government took new steps to cool property speculation there.

May copper was 2 cents lower to $3.51 per pound in New York trade at midday there, while three-month copper dropped $67 to $7,696 per tonne on the London Metal Exchange.

Among other base metals, lead was $21 lower to $2,240 per tonne while zinc fell $33 to $2,390 per tonne, aluminium was down $66 to $2,369 per tonne, nickel was $55 lower to $26,650 per tonne and tin dropped $375 to $18,825 per tonne.

Most precious metals were also lower as May gold was down $4 to $1,132.30 per troy ounce around midday while in earlier trade May copper had dropped $7.10 to $1,683.70 per troy ounce.

Silver defied trends and was up slightly to $17.70 per troy ounce in midday trade.