Metals-Copper slips as inventories build; weak dollar offers support
XLB•Other base metals mostly lower
Among other metals, LME aluminium CMAL3 fell 1.4% in official activity to $3,182 a ton, nickel CMNI3 shed 1.5% to $16,850, lead CMPB3 dipped 0.2% to $1,884 and tin CMSN3 dropped 1.5% to $54,700, while zinc CMZN3 gained 0.9% to $3,742.
$1 = 6.7239 Chinese yuan renminbi
Dollar weakness helps limit losses
"Yesterday's buyback announcement from the Treasury helped arrest the slide that we saw as inventories started to return to the LME," said Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank in Copenhagen.
"The announcement sends quite a strong signal and points to the risk of a weaker dollar ahead. It also highlights a world where there's competition for investors not only to fund debt, but also for hard assets, and copper has been at the forefront of that recently."
The dollar index =USD fell to a three-month low after the Treasury Department moved to calm a bond market selloff that had pushed long-end yields to their highest since 2007.
A weaker dollar makes commodities priced in the U.S. currency cheaper for buyers using other currencies.
