Industrial metals sank on Tuesday after Italy's and Spain's borrowing costs dropped at short-term debt sale, weighting down on hopes that the ECB will soon take a decisive action to ease debt pressure in the region.
Aluminum inched down amid persistent supply glut and mounting uncertainty over stimulus measures from the Fed. However, lower inventories at LME warehouses as well as higher energy costs limited the downswing.
Copper moved lower on increasing cautiousness among market participants ahead of Ben Bernanke's speech at Hole Symposium due on Friday.
Nickel plunged on mixed global equities and strong US Dollar. Adding pressure on the metal, International Nickel Study Group reported that nickel supply surplus attained 34,000 tons in H1.
Zinc continued to face surplus in physical market; however, a decline in LME inventories restricted the downward trend of the metal.