Copper, aluminium ease on strong dollar

Print this page Posted on : 07-31-2008 by recycleinme.com

Copper and aluminium eased on Wednesday, pressured by a stronger dollar and weaker oil prices, while nickel traded near 2-year lows. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange traded at $7,868 a tonne at 0958 GMT, down from $7,945 at the close on Tuesday.

Aluminium traded at $2,946 a tonne from $2,960. LME inventories of the metal grew 725 tonnes to 1.124 million tonnes, the highest since May 2004.

"The dollar has been stronger of late and clearly oil prices have taken another sharp fall in the last few days and this essentially has kept the base metals on the back foot," said Mr Robin Bhar, analyst at Calyon investment bank.

Weaker Oil

The dollar traded near a one-month high against the euro, while oil steadied around $122 a barrel.

Lead fell 3.7 percent to $2,185 a tonne from $2,270 on profit-taking, with a rise in LME stocks also dampening sentiment. Zinc traded at $1,853 a tonne from $1,870.

Nickel dipped close to a 2-year low, before recovering to trade at $18,300 a tonne, from $18,050.

Source : Business Line