Bloomberg reported that Goldman Sachs Group Inc has lowered forecasts for copper, nickel and zinc prices on prospects for increased supply of the metals.

The 12 month estimate for copper was cut to USD 9,000 a tonne. It projected prices of USD 18,600 a tonne for nickel and USD 2,200 a tonne for zinc. As of December 20th 2011, Goldman Sachs had estimates of USD 9,500 a tonne for copper, USD 21,000 a tonne for nickel and USD 2,400 a tonne for zinc.

Mr Max Layton, a London based analyst at the bank, said in the report that "The direction of our base metals views is largely unchanged. We are most bullish on copper, moderately bullish on aluminum and zinc, and bearish on nickel over six to 12 months."

(Sourced from www.bloomberg.net)