Investors dumped copper stocks today after the copper price continued to fall overnight amid increasing supplies and fears that the slowing US housing market would dampen demand.
Overnight the copper price slipped 2.2 per cent to US$5,697 a tonne, extending losses for the week to 8 per cent.
Copper-focused stocks took a dive with Fox Resources falling 4.7 per cent, or 8 cents to $1.67 and Marengo Mining shed 1 cent, or 4.7 per cent to 20.5 cents, Trafford Resources was 1.4 per cent lower at 35 cents while Aditya Birla Minerals eased 3 cents to $2.02.
StockAnalysis Author Peter Strachan said the copper price was being squeezed because supplies were increasing and there were fears that a slowdown in the US housing market could dampen demand for the metal.
"There are heaps of new projects in South America coming on line and the housing activity in the US is slowing," he said. "There is a view that demand might not be as strong as we thought it would be," Mr Strachan said.
It was a poor day for the resources sector, with softening oil and gold prices also providing selling catalysts for investors.
But ABN AMRO Morgans dealer Tim Carvolth said nickel miners managed to buck the trend after a 5 per cent gain in the nickel price overnight.
"A lot of punters had been tipping a fall in the copper price because you could see that the stockpiles had been increasing but stockpiles for nickel are tightening up," he said.
Among nickel miners, Jubilee Mines gained 27 cents to $15.25, Minara Resources added 2 cents to $5.32, Sally Malay Mining was up 5 cents to $2.32 and Mincor Resources was 4 cents higher at $2.08.
The benchmark S&P-ASX 200 index lost 12.8 points to 5572 while the all-ordinaries index dropped 14.1 points to 5549.8.
BHP Billiton lost 23 cents to $24.14 and Rio Tinto fell $1.09 to $70.30.
