Japan Official Copper Price Down to 810,000 yen/t

Nippon Mining & Metals announced on Wednesday the firm revised down the official copper ingot price by 40,000 yen to 810,000 yen per tonne for domestic shipment in January. The firm revised down the price for the first time this year. The latest price hit the lowest since 790,000 yen on 6 December, 2007. The monthly average would be 818,400 yen without any more revision within January.Overseas copper markets dropped down on Tuesday though it maintained strong since the beginning of this year. Copper spot price at London Metal Exchange downed by US$ 135.5 to US$ 7,225.5 per tonne at settlement on Tuesday from Monday and continued decreasing to US$ 7,182 in afternoon trading on the same day. Copper spot price at New York Commodity Exchange declined by US 9.7 cents to US 322 cents per pound on Tuesday from the previous day.In the foreign currency market, Japanese yen became sharply stronger against US dollar. The telegraphic transfer selling rate was 107.69 yen per US dollar on Wednesday, which jumped up by 3.1% or 3.34 yen from 111.13 yen on 10 January and hit the highest since 106.94 yen on 12 May, 2005.