Copper closes with third consecutive gain

LONDON.- Copper closed with another gain, the third one in a row, today at the London Metal Exchange (LME) after trading for US$ 2.03981 per pound of "grade A" material, compared to US$ 2.00511 on Wednesday and US$ 1.87288 on Tuesday of this week.

Despite the increase, the monthly average dropped to US$ 2.25345, while the yearly average slipped to US$ 3.47220.

Meanwhile, the future-3-month price ended at US$ 2.04117 per pound, up 1.69% from Wednesday (US$ 2.00715).

At the LME, stocks increased by 6,575 metric tons to 223,875. So far this year, there has been an accumulated increase of 26,425 MT (13.38%).