The London Metal Exchange copper spot price dropped back below US$7,000 a tonne to $6,882.50 as inventories surged and iron ore fell 3% as Bloomberg reported Chinese steelmakers were switching to use more lower-grade material to address declines in profitability.

Diversified major Rio Tinto (LN:RIO) lost 1.45% in London yesterday while in Australia, BHP only lost just over 0.3%.

Teck Resources (CN:TECK.B) shed more than 2% in Toronto and Freeport-McMoRan (US:FCX) was down a similar amount in New York.

Gold remains a bright spot on the markets, holding around US$1,340 an ounce as business, political and academic big wigs - and a few celebrities - gather at the World Economic Forum underway in snowy Davos, Switzerland.

The head of the world's fastest growing economy, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, spoke about challenges to civilisation and how the country was working to improve its appeal to investors and companies.