Copper closes with another gain and hits new high for year

LONDON.- Copper closed with another gain, this time of 2.69%, today at the London Metal Exchange (LME) after trading for US$ 1.65130 per pound of "grade A" material, compared to US$ 1.60799 on Wednesday and US$ 1.57850 on Tuesday.

The value is the highest for the metal since November 27th of 2008, when it traded for US$ 1.66242.

As a result of the gain, the monthly average climbed to US$ 1.58706, while the yearly average jumped to US$ 1.49105.

Meanwhile, the future 3-month price quote ended at US$ 1.66242 per pound, up 2.66% from Wednesday (US$ 1.61933).

At the LME, stocks decreased by 825 metric tons to 525,200. So far this year, there has been an accumulated increase of 185,425 MT (+54.57%).