Commodities: Copper

A FURTHER fall in copper prices during trading yesterday afternoon dampened buying interest in other metals which mostly finished around the lower end of the day's narrow trading ranges. Sterling copper last traded at pounds 1,277.5, down pounds 9.50.

Buyers had already been discouraged from chasing prices higher earlier in the day following the publication of London Metal Exchange stock data showing total inventories of all metals up by 21,177 tonnes at 2,181,197 tonnes.

More than half is aluminium which rose 12,100 tonnes to a record 1,350,600, while copper's rise of 5,575 tonnes took the total to 268,550 tonnes.