London 09/06/2016 - Copper prices continued to fall during early-afternoon LME trading, dropping to their lowest since mid-February, as sell-stops pushed the market under $4,500.
Copper was being pressured by rising warehouse inventories and a further widening in nearby contangos today, traders said.
The market fell as low as $4,483.50 per tonne, a $94.50 loss from the Wednesday close. Since hitting three-week highs of $4,748 on Monday, copper prices have shed some 5.3 percent, while the market's nearby spread structure has swung decisively from backwardation to contango.
The benchmark cash/threes rate was $11.75, the widest contango since December 2015. For most of 2016 it has been backwardated - it was as high as $27 at the end of May. Warehouse inventories have ballooned this week - today they rose another 5,925 tonnes to 213,225 tonnes, the highest since February 16.
(Editing by Mark Shaw)