Copper plummets to lowest value in four years

LONDON.- Copper closed today with a loss of 9.23% at the London Metal Exchange (LME), after trading for US$ 1.38368 per pound of grade A material, compared to US$ 1.52430 on Thursday and US$ 1.55265 on Wednesday.

As a result, the monthly average fell to US$ 1.53859 and the yearly average slipped to US$ 3.27451.

Today's price is the lowest for the red metal since December 10 of 2004, when it traded for US$ 1.36985.

Meanwhile, the future 3-month price quote ended at US$ 1.39570 per pound, down 9.37% from Thursday (US$ 1.53995).

At the LME, stocks increased by 4,325 metric tons to 297,300. So far this year, copper has registered an accumulated increase of 99,850 MT (+50.57%).