The three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were higher at the close of trading on Tuesday August 18, after positive US housing starts and building permits data supported complex-wide buying into the afternoon, with copper led the complex by closing at its highest level since June 2018.
Copper's outright price on the LME closed at $6,567.50 per tonne on Tuesday afternoon, climbing more than 2% from an intraday low of $6,427 per tonne, while turnover was high at more than 21,000 lots exchanged by the 5pm close. Prompting the surge in afternoon buying, both US housing starts and building permits exceeded expectations for the July-August period, coming in at 1.5 million each from an expected level of 1.33 million and 1.23 million...