Copper hits 4-year low in New York

Bad week for copper.

Copper futures hit a four-year low Friday on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, as a strike at Peru’s biggest copper mine came to an end and weaker oil prices drove metals lower.

The industrial metal traded 3.2% lower at $2.861 per pound at the time of writing. Earlier it touched $2.8515, the lowest for a most-active contract since June 10, 2010 on reports that Peru’s Antamina, the world’s sixth largest copper mine, will return to normal operating levels next week.

Oil prices continued their sliding trend Friday, trading down $4.42 from Wednesday’s closing price to a 4 1/2 year low of US$69.27 a barrel. Prices have plunged about 35% from mid-summer highs because of a higher U.S. dollar, lower demand and, especially, global oversupply.