Copper soars to US$ 2.20 in London

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LONDON.- Copper closed with a 3.71% hike today at the London Metal Exchange (LME) alter trading for US$ 2.21149 per pound of "grade A" material, compared to US$ 2.13234 on Friday –its lowest value in more than two and a half years- and US$ 2.21353 on Thursday of last week.

Despite the gain however, the monthly average dropped to US$ 2.46497, while the yearly average slipped to US$ 3.53451.

"Metals are trading with a slight gain, the U.S. dollar has weakened compared to several principal currencies (…) positive developments within the stock market have proved favorable to basic metals", stated Dresdner Kleinwort consultant Peter Fertig.

Meanwhile, the future-3-month price ended at US$ 2.18904 per pound, up 3.78% from Friday (US$ 2.10921).

At the LME, stocks increased by 950 metric tons to 212,400. So far this year, copper has registered an accumulated increase of 14,950 MT (+7.57%).