Copper at six-week
high
By Myra P. Saefong,
CBS MarketWatch
Last Update: 4:23 PM ET May 12,
2000
NewsWatch
Latest headlines
NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- July copper
rallied Friday to a level not seen since late
February after both the London Metals
Exchange and the New York Commodities
Exchange reported sizable drops in
inventories of the metal.
July copper (HG=N0: news, msgs) rose 1.45
cents to 84.45 cents a pound after the London
Metals Exchange said copper supplies fell
9,425 metric tons to 657,350 as of early
Friday. Comex stocks fell 1,114 to 78,816
short tons. On February 24, copper closed at
85.55 cents a pound, making Friday
afternoon's activity the strongest attempt yet
to sustain higher levels after six weeks of
fluctuating in a moderate range.
Gold and silver futures also saw
small gains Friday as precious
metals indexes ended mixed
following losses a day earlier.
June gold (GC=M0: news,
msgs) rose 40 cents to $276.90
an ounce, while July silver
(SI=N0: news, msgs) was down
0.2 cent to $5.058 an ounce on
the Commodity Exchange
division of the New York
Mercantile Exchange.
In the equities market, the
Philadelphia Gold & Silver
Stocks Index ($XAU: news,
msgs) fell 0.4 percent, while
the CBOE Gold Index ($GOX:
news, msgs) rose by 0.4
percent. Shares Newmont
Mining (NEM: news, msgs)
lost 7/8 to 25 1/8 and Placer
Dome (PDG: news, msgs) shed
3/16 to 8 5/8, but shares of
Hecla Mining (HL: news,
msgs) added 1/16 to 1 3/8 and
Homestake Mining (HM: news, msgs) gained
5/16 to 7 3/16.
Comex gold warehouse stocks, as of late
Thursday, fell 50,463 to 1,915,040 ounces.
Silver stocks were up 267,679 ounces to
102,3601,274 ounces.
In other metals highlights, June palladium
(PA=M0: news, msgs) fell $4.10 to $573.50
an ounce while July platinum (PL=N0: news,
msgs) was down $1.20 to $484.80 an ounce.
cbs.marketwatch.com |
