Copper slips 4.3% in recent week, falls to lowest price in almost two months

The price of copper on the London Metal Exchange closed at US$2.71/lb cash Friday, 4.3% less than the value seven days before, as global stock levels swelled by 2.4% to 488,200t, enough for more than two weeks of worldwide consumption, Chile's state copper commission Cochilco said in its weekly report. Friday's price was the lowest in about seven weeks. The week kicked off with a 2.3% price drop Monday (Sep 21) but bounced back the following day, driven by a weak US dollar, according to Cochilco. However, the red metal continued to slide during the rest of the week as the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday opted to maintain interest rates at 0-0.25%, Cochilco added. Other LME base metals performed similarly to copper. Meanwhile, gold receded from its record performance the week before on the London Bullion Market to close at US$997/oz Monday but peaked its head above US$1,000/oz the next three days - which coincided with the Federal Reserve decision - only to drop to US$992/oz Friday. Silver on the LBM showed similar performance to gold during the recent week and closed Friday at US$16.20/oz.