Copper gains on demand hopes

Prices were mixed among both precious and base metals on Monday.

September copper added a cent to trade at $2.94 per pound in New York, while three-month contracts for the metal used in manufacturing and construction added $27 to $6,512 per tonne on the London Metal Exchange as inventories declined, providing hope that demand remains good even though recent data has cast doubt on the health of the economic recovery.

LME copper stockpiles are at their lowest in nine months as they saw their 22nd session in a row of declines and have now fallen 16 percent since the beginning of the year to 422,850 tonnes.

Prices for other base metals were mixed in London as tin and zinc joined copper in advances, but aluminium, nickel and lead all saw declines on the session.

August gold was down $6.30 to $1,181.90 per troy ounce in New York trade as investment demand was down.

Palladium and silver prices were also lower in New York as September palladium fell $4.70 to $443.90 per troy ounce and silver was down 25 cents to $17.54 per troy ounce, but October platinum managed to add $1 to $1,513.10 per troy ounce.