By Millie Munshi
Dec. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Copper prices fell by the most in three weeks on mounting concern that a global recession will reduce demand for the metal used in pipes and wires.
More than $31 trillion has been erased from the value of global equities as the collapse of the U.S. subprime mortgage market sparked financial turmoil that pushed economies worldwide into contraction. Copper inventories monitored in London have more than doubled since June 30 as demand waned. Before today, the metal’s price had fallen 47 percent this year in New York.
“The outlook for the global economy continues to weaken” and weigh on prices, Alex Heath, the London-based head of industrial metals at RBC Capital Markets, said today in a report.
Copper futures for March delivery sank 6.8 cents, or 4.2 percent, to $1.5325 a pound at 9:19 a.m. on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. A close at that price would be the biggest one-day drop since Nov. 11.
On the London Metal Exchange, copper for delivery in three months fell $167, or 4.7 percent, to $3,388 a metric ton ($1.54 a pound.)
To contact the reporter on this story: Millie Munshi in New York at mmunshi@bloomberg.net.
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