By MELANIE BURTON –

THE prices of copper in London were little changed yesterday as caution dominated the market in the aftermath of Britain’s vote last week to leave the European Union.
The prices for three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) trimmed early losses of around half a percent to trade almost flat at $4,694.50 a tonne, after a 1.7-per cent drop in the previous session.
British Finance Minister George Osborne, who had warned during the campaign that a “Brexit” would cause financial market volatility, scheduled a statement for Monday to provide reassurance about “financial and economic stability”.
Jonathan Barratt, chief investment officer of Ayers Alliance in Sydney, said that for industrial metals there were many unknown factors at play but a few definites – one of which is that there was “no change to the United States (US) interest rates on the horizon”.
A softer dollar should shore up metals against selling pressure because it makes dollar-priced commodities cheaper for holders of other currencies.
Copper on Thursday hit the highest in seven weeks at $4,795 a tonne ahead of the results of the British referendum, as investors had banked on the ‘remain’ camp winning.
Prices are still, however, well above the more than six-year lows of $4,318 a tonne touched in mid-January.
Financial markets “vastly underestimated” the outcome of Britain’s vote to leave the EU but did not panic on Friday, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said on Sunday.—Reuters