Copper prices fall as the dollar rises

Copper prices fell to a week-long low on Thursday as concerns about the timing and pace of the Federal Reserve’s plan to cut monetary stimulus kept the dollar at nearly a year high.

At 1054 GMT, three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was down 1.3% at $ 9,036 a tonne.

The metal, used as an indicator of the health of the world economy, was heading for its first quarterly decline in six.

Policy tightening expectations in the United States have boosted the dollar, making raw materials more expensive for holders of other currencies.

Falling inventories have propped up copper prices and helped contain losses.

Stocks in warehouses controlled by the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell to their lowest level since May 2009, down 2.5% to 43,525 tonnes from last Friday.

At LME-registered warehouses, on-warrant stocks were at their lowest level since June at 124,200 tonnes.