Copper starts off last month of the year with slight gain

LONDON.- Copper closed with a 0.41% gain today at the London Metal Exchange (LME), after trading for US$ 1.63089 per pound of "grade A" material, compared to US$ 1.62431 on Friday and US$ 1.66242 on Thursday of last week.

As a result, the monthly average was reported at US$ 1.63089, while the yearly average was positioned at US$ 3.30457.

Meanwhile, the future-3-month price quote ended at US$ 1.64427 per pound, with no change from Friday of last week.

At the LME, stocks decreased by 450 metric tons to 291,200. So far this year, there has been an accumulated increase of 93,750 MT (+47.48%).