The average monthly change in the prices of three metals during 2014
The line graph illustrates the fluctuation in monthly prices for copper, nickel and zinc throughout the year 2014.
It is clear from the graph that the prices of copper and nickel showed a downward trend, with nickel the highest volatility among them. On the other hand, zinc experienced a marginal increase.
In January 2014, the price of nickel was up 6%, surpassing that of copper 2% and 1% respectively. However, the trend for nickel reversed in the following months, as the percentage changes dropped to 1% by March and reached a low of -3% by June. After reaching a high of 3% in February, zinc entered a downward trend throughout the first half of the year, with -1% in June. Similarly, copper prices also declined, with changes mostly around 1% to -1%, lower compared to the other metals.
From July to September, nickel, zinc and copper remained static at -1%, about -0, 5% and 1% respectively. However, after October to the end of the year, there was a slight increase trend for all of three metals, with 1% for nickel, 1, 5% for zinc and 2% for copper in December.
