Copper prices take a knock

Copper in New York fell as global stockpiles of the metal used in pipes and wires rose, rebounding after a three-session decline, the longest since October.

Inventories monitored by exchanges in London, New York and Shanghai rose 1.2 percent, to 272,990 metric tons, a 32-month high. Supplies monitored by London Metal Exchange rose 1.5 per cent, to 215,750 metric tons.

Copper prices are ``weighed down by the rise in stock data today,'' Edward Meir, a commodities analyst at Man Financial Inc. in Darien, Connecticut, wrote in an e-mailed report.

Copper futures for March delivery fell 5.4 cents, or 2.2 percent, to $2.4425 a pound at 8:56 a.m. on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices have dropped four times in the past sessions and are down 15 percent this year.

The higher stocks are playing a role in the market today, sending prices lower,'' said Darren Stoody, futures trading director at Omnisource Inc. in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Prices tumbled 9.6 percent in January and have declined for four-consecutive months, the longest slump since February 2000, on signs of weakening demand from China and the US, the two biggest consumers of the metal.

BHP Billiton Ltd., the world's biggest mining company, today said it will buy back $10 billion of shares after higher metal prices drove profit to a record. China, whose economy grew 10.7 percent last year, will continue as the main demand driver for raw materials, Melbourne-based BHP said in a statement.

On the LME, copper for delivery in three months fell $80, or 1.5 percent, to $5,390 a metric ton at 1:55 p.m. local time Prices reached a record $8,800 in May.