A weaker U.S. dollar helped lift gold and other precious metals, but industrial metals and oil prices slumped. Gold for December delivery rose $2.30 (U.S.) to $946 an ounce in New York. Meanwhile, grain prices stumbled on the Chicago Board of Trade.

LONDON - Copper fell on Tuesday as investors retreated on mounting worries about recent price gains, which may be overdone given weak fundamentals, and on economic uncertainty.

Aluminum traded at $1,919 a tonne from $1,927. LME stocks for the metal, used in transport and packaging, slipped 3,575 tonnes, but held near record levels above 4.6 million tonnes.

CLOSING PRICES (SPOT)


Nickel US$/lb 8.79 -0.11

Copper US$/lb 2.86 -0.06

Gold US$/troy ounce 945.51 4.89

Silver US$/troy ounce 14.30 0.15

Lead US$/lb 0.93 0.02

Zinc US$/lb 0.83 0.00

Aluminum US$/lb 0.85 -0.01

Oil West Texas US$/bbl 71.55 -2.27

Nat Gas Henry Hub US$ mmbtu 2.85 0.16

Nat.Gas AECO C C$/gigajoule 2.18 -0.07

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