Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mostly lower at the close of trading on Tuesday November 20, with broad risk-off sentiment emerging across global commodity markets amid continued trade tensions and a fresh one-year low in oil futures.
Both zinc and lead futures were the worst affected, falling by around 2% over the afternoon, to below their respective support levels at $2,600 per tonne and $2,000 per tonne.In zinc, a continuing drawdown in LME stocks - which remained at a 10-year low - prompted further widening in the metal's forward curve, with the backwardation in the metal's cash/three-month spread recently at $94 per tonne, its widest since 2007.The three-month copper price similarly extended losses into the afternoon after Monday's trading resulted in the red metal's price climbing to its highest level since November 5.Volumes traded in copper outperformed the rest of the complex by a sizeable amount, with 24,155 lots changing hands over the day, more than double the number of aluminium lots, second-highest at...