Copper rises amid Escondida supply fears

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LONDON.- Breaking its recent downward trend, copper closed with a gain today at the London Metal Exchange (LME) thanks to a slightly more confident market and after the largest copper mine in the world, Escondida, declared that it would be unable to comply with shipments.

Escondida, the largest copper mine in the world, announced on Friday that it would not be able to comply with its contractual obligations to deliver concentrates, following mechanical problems in the facility's SAG mill during the third trimester.

Copper rose 0.62% after trading for US$ 2.8202 per pound of "grade A" material, compared to US$ 2.26796 on Friday and US$ 2.45031 on Thursday of last week.

Despite the gain however, the monthly price average fell to US$ 2.56749, while the yearly average slipped to US$ 3.56602.

Meanwhile, the future-3-month price ended at US$ 2.23168 per pound, up 0.82% from Friday (US$ 2.21353).

At the LME, stocks decreased by 75 metric tons to 209,325.