Copper trades lower as oil zooms up

Prices pare early gains on demand concerns

Copper started the day in the black at Comex but turned lower as stocks deepened their losses as oil rallied on Friday, 04 March 2011.

Copper for March delivery retreated less than 1 cent, or 0.1%, to $4.47 a pound at Comex on friday. For the week, copper rose 0.7%.



Three-month-delivery copper on the London Metal Exchange traded little changed at $9,910.75 a metric ton.

News reports indicated the Libyan opposition had rejected a mediation proposal by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Oil prices set a new record high of $104.60 per barrel at Nymex in the April contract just before they closed with a 2.5% gain at $104.42 per barrel on Friday, 04 March 2011. For the week, the energy component climbed 6.7%, which was primarily underpinned by continued concern about social and political volatility in North Africa and the Middle East.

Also on Friday, investors weighed news that the jobless rate fell to 8.9%, its lowest level since April 2009, and the economy added 192,000 jobs in February. The payrolls growth came in below expectations as market was expecting an addition of 218,000 jobs.

Among other traded metals at LME on Friday, lead in London gained 0.5% to $2,629.75 a ton and nickel rose 0.4% to $28,975 a ton. Alu