By Ira Iosebashvili 
 

Copper prices fell Wednesday, dragged lower by a stronger dollar.

Copper for March delivery, the most actively traded contract, closed down 1% at $2.0490 a pound on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The Wall Street Journal Dollar Index, which measures the buck against a basket of 16 currencies, was up 0.1% to 90.41, near a 13-year high reached earlier this month. A stronger dollar puts pressure on copper, which is priced in the U.S. currency and becomes more expensive to foreign buyers when the buck rises.

Prices for the metal are down around 28% since the beginning of the year, dogged by the dollar's strength and an economic slowdown in China, the world's biggest copper consumer.

Though copper now trades at its lowest level in more than six years, market participants are wary of trying to pick a bottom. "The mood around copper is very negative," said George Gero, a senior vice president with RBC Capital Markets Global Futures in New York. Traders have been hurt this year buying copper when prices looked cheap, and are reluctant to do so now, Mr. Gero said.

 
Nov. $2.0445, down 0.9 cents; Range $2.0395-$2.0455 
Mar. $2.0490, down 2.00 cents; Range $2.0395-$2.0770 
 

Write to Ira Iosebashvili at ira.iosebashvili@wsj.com

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 25, 2015 16:38 ET (21:38 GMT)