Copper ends marginally lower

Prices register healthy weekly gains

Copper prices ended lower on Friday, 13 January 2012 at Comex. Copper prices fell on Friday as speculation ratings agency Standard & Poor's could downgrade a number of euro zone countries prompted a pull back in assets perceived as risky. A strong dollar also hammered prices.

Copper for March delivery ended lower by 1 cent (0.3%) at $3.64 a pound at Comex on Friday. Prices rallied 5.8% for the week. For the year 2011, copper shed 23% following a 30% increase in 2010 and a 140% jump in 2009, boosted by surging demand from China's manufacturers. China accounts for 40% of the world's refined copper consumption.



Red metal prices for three-month-delivery at LME fell $27 (0.3%) to $7,978 a metric ton on Friday.

In the currency market on Friday, the Dollar Index, which weighs the strength of dollar against basket of six other currencies rose by almost 0.2%.

Driving up the dollar and weighing on U.S. and European stocks and the broader commodities market, were news reports said ratings agency Standard & Poor's was set to announce later Friday that it had cut France's triple-A rating. The French finance minister reportedly confirmed that France has lost the blue-chip rating.

US data at Wall Street on Friday showed that the U.S. trade deficit widened by 10.4% in November, the largest gap since June and the biggest jump in the deficit since May. The deficit figure of $47.8 billion was well above $44.8 billion consensus forecast.

Earlier during the week, trade data from China's government showed that nation's import growth declining to a two-year low last month, raising expectations for monetary easing for the country. China's trade surplus widened in December markedly as exports remained resilient while imports weakened, although full-year figures pointed to an overall narrowing trend for the Chinese trade gap. Imports were up 11.8% in December, compared with expectations of 18% growth and an increase of 22.1% in November.

Among other traded metals at LME on Friday, lead in London fell 0.6% to $2,022.5 a ton and nickel closed lower by 0.91% at $19,521 a ton. Aluminum closed lower by 0.8% at $2,145 a ton, and zinc closed lower by 0.4% at $1,959.25 a ton.