Base metals on the London Metal Exchange were mostly lower at the close of trading on Tuesday December 18, with continued strength in the US dollar index limiting price action, while lead futures gained more than 2% against a backdrop of multi-year lows in LME inventory.
Depreciating over 2.5% this afternoon, copper futures closed below $6,000 per tonne for the first time since October 31, while total volumes traded on the exchange were recorded at their highest since November 2, with 25,743 lots changing hands. "We are seeing some modest selling action in today's metals session, with copper faring the worst; prices are now at five-week lows and there has been a noticeable easing in copper's spread and inventory structures as well," INTL FCStone analyst Edward Meir said. "In this regard, the cash-to three month's spread has now slipped into a $25.25 per tonne contango versus the backwardation evident several weeks ago, while on the inventory side, of the 122,000 tonnes on the LME, roughly 105,000 tonnes are on warrant, while only 16,000 tonnes have been cancelled, almost a reversal of the...