Strong day for base metals

Copper remains the biggest gainers in the broader metals complex on Friday

Red metal prices at Comex ended substantially higher on Friday, 21 October 2011. Copper was among the biggest gainers in the broader metals complex on Friday but registered substantial weekly losses. Traders retuned back to commodities on Friday on thoughts that recent selling in commodities was overdone. The weak dollar helped prices go up. Investors cautiously welcomed a statement from France and Germany promising to provide firm details of a debt-rescue plan for the euro zone in the next few days.



Copper for December delivery ended higher by 17 cents (5.4%) at $3.23 a pound at Comex on Friday. For the week, copper shed 5.3%. In the third quarter, copper tumbled 26%, the most since 2008. The metal touched a 14-month low of $2.994 on 3 October, 2011. Copper has slumped 30% from a record $4.6575 a pound on 15 February 2011.

Red metal prices for three-month-delivery at LME rose $231 (3.4%) to $7,127 a metric ton on Friday.

Metals tracked equity markets' gains across the globe on Friday, as U.S. stocks moved broadly higher following key earnings, with McDonald's shares trading at an all-time high and amid optimism ahead of a euro-zone summit over the weekend.

In the currency market on Friday, the dollar index, which measures the strength of the dollar against a basket of six other currencies, stayed steady but ended lower by 0.5%.

Among other traded metals at LME on Friday, lead in London rose 3.2% to $1,846.5 a ton and nickel rose 1.8% to $18,350 a ton. Aluminum closed higher by 2.3% at $2,133 a ton, and zinc closed higher by 4% at $1,810 a ton.