LONDON – Prices for copper and aluminium fell in London on Friday as data showing a tumble in euro-zone business activity weakened the euro, and the dollar’s strength weighed on prices for industrial metals.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was down 0.4 percent at $8,971 per metric ton.
The euro zone’s dominant services industry contracted and manufacturing sank deeper into recession this month, a survey showed on Friday. The euro plunged to a two-year low after the data, and the US dollar index hit a fresh two-year high.
Three weeks of the US currency strengthening, which makes dollar-priced metals more expensive for buyers using other currencies, and concerns about demand in top consumer China helped copper to fall by 12 percent from a four-month peak hit on Sept. 30.
“Industrial metals have also struggled amid heightened tensions and (a US) tariff threat, lowering the near-term outlook for growth and demand while gold and other investment metals have received a haven bid,” said Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank. Gold rose 1.3 percent with signs of escalation in the Russia- Ukraine war after Russia’s strike on Ukraine using a newly developed hypersonic ballistic missile.
