• Print
• E-Mail

NEW YORK - Copper fell from its record on Wednesday of $4 a pound on profit-taking sell and as the dollar rallied against the euro reducing demand for commodities.

The dollar climbed 1.1 percent against the euro from the lowest value in the day after the European Central Bank kept interest rates unchanged at 4.0 percent and its president Jean-Claude Trichet reviewed a softer inflation outlook.

Copper futures for May delivery fell 7.6 cents or 1.90 percent to $3.9240 a pound on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Wednesday prices reached a record of $4 a pound.

Recent analysis rose concerns that demand of copper may curb. According to the wire and cable producer Southwire Co. demand for copper will slow in the U.S. in the next 18 months, Bloomberg noted.

The United States is the second consumer of copper in the world and was hit by a housing crisis that keeps worsening.

Supporting demand concerns, imports from China may weaken since in the international market prices are higher, traders commented.

Additionally, stockpiles of copper in the London Metal Exchange are down 40 percent since the beginning of 20088, according to Reuters.

Today copper inventories in the LME declined 525 tons to 116,100 tons.

Copper futures for delivery in three months in the LME rose $204 or 2.36 percent to $8,864 a metric ton on Thursday.