The price of most of the metals on the LME slipped on Wednesday as global economic news continued to be poor.
Germany suffered its worst ever sale of government debt yesterday after it failed to sell around €2.1 billion of a $6 billion auction, showing the eurozone crisis is beginning to impact on the stronger euro economies in possibly unexpected ways.
In the United States, consumer spending growth slowed in October and business capital investment data was weak. While China’s factory activity slowed to a 32-month low in November, which suggests even its economy is under pressure.
As a result, three month copper was down to $7,193 (£4,621) on Wednesday from $7,421 (£4,742) on Tuesday.
Aluminium fell to $2,018 (£1,296) yesterday down from $2,082 (£1,331) on Tuesday. Alloy dropped to $1,925 (£1,237) from $1,960 (£1,253) on Tuesday.
Lead was down to $1,978 (£1,271) on Wednesday from $1,998 (£1,277) a day earlier. Nickel moved down to $17,125 (£11,002) on Wednesday from $17,800 (£11,375) the day before.
Tin increased to $20,700 (£13,298) from Tuesday’s $20,655 (£13,200). Zinc was down to $1,898 (£1,219) from $1,935 (£1,237) on Tuesday.
Steel was up a touch to $523 (£336) from $520 (£334) the day before.
