Copper snapped two days of gains in London on speculation mining companies will add to increasing supplies of the metal, worsening a global surplus. Nickel, zinc and aluminum also fell. Copper closed yesterday at a seven-week high after jumping 15 percent in two sessions. Stocks of the metal in warehouses monitored by the London Metal Exchange have jumped 6.4 percent this week to the highest since Dec. 17, 2003. “There’s pretty strong selling interest by producers,” said David Thurtell, an analyst at Citigroup Inc. in London. “Stocks yesterday and today both suggest that supplies are now well in excess of demand. Demand is just very poor.” Copper for three-month delivery fell $105, or 3 percent, to $3,450 a metric ton at 10:25 a.m. on the LME. The contract closed yesterday at $3,555 a ton, the highest since Dec. 2. The past two days’ gains probably stemmed from buying of contracts to cover so-called short positions, or bets on lower prices, according to Thurtell. “You always have prices rally when there’s short-covering,” he said. Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., the largest publicly traded producer of the industrial metal, said yesterday its fourth-quarter copper sales rose 36 percent from a year earlier. Thurtell called $3,500 a ton “a nice level” for producer sales. LME copper inventories, at 451,800 tons, have jumped 29 percent this year, gaining in Europe, the U.S. and Asia. Other metals for delivery in three months also declined on the LME. Aluminum dropped $12.50, or 0.9 percent, to $1,370.50 a ton. Nickel fell $485, or 4.1 percent, to $11,415 a ton, and lead slid $24, or 2 percent, to $1,171 a ton. Zinc lost $16.75, or 1.4 percent, to $1,183.25 a ton, and tin retreated $400, or 3.2 percent, to $12,000 a ton.

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