Copper falls as stockpiles rise
Base metals fell on Tuesday, led by copper, as inventories of the industrial metal rose to a three-month high, stoking fears of a glut.
Copper for three-month delivery on the London Metal Exchange fell 1.6 per cent to $7,200 a tonne as stockpiles of the metal, used in plumbing and electrical wiring, rose 8 per cent.
Concerns over the US economy, particularly the state of the country’s housing market, were underlined on Monday by weaker-than-expected existing home sales. And while new home sales in July bounced unexpectedly, analysts said they were rallying off very low levels, and that further drops were expected.Rising stockpiles of other metals also contributed to weakness. Nickel inventories rose 9.4 per cent to a 15-month high, forcing three-month futures down 3.4 per cent to €26,750 a tonne. Aluminium lost 0.4 per cent to $2,550 a tonne.
Oil prices were flat as concers over US growth were tempered by expectations of tight supply of petrol ahead of US inventory data on Wednesday.
A number of refinery outages have added to concerns over the supply of petrol, but as the US driving season draws to a close, the numbers were likely to provide less of a shock to investors, analysts said.
â€Concerns about slowing US economic growth will dominate sentiment,†said Edward Meir at Man Financial.
By late morning in London, Brent crude for October delivery was up 11 cents at $71.06 a barrel, while Nymex West Texas Intermediate added 17 cents a barrel to $72.14 a barrel.