By Chanyaporn Chanjaroen Dec. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Copper climbed to the highest price in almost three weeks in London as the dollar declined, bolstering demand for commodities including metals as an alternative investment. Tin prices jumped to a 14-month high. The dollar fell as much as 0.4 percent against a basket of six currencies today. Gold advanced the most in a month in London and crude oil futures gained for a third consecutive day. “It’s all dollar related today,” Randy North, a trader at RBC Capital Markets in London, said by phone. Copper for three-month delivery added as much as $125.25, or 1.8 percent, to $7,125 a metric ton, the highest intraday price since Dec. 4. The contract traded at $7,110 a ton at 10:05 a.m. on the London Metal Exchange. It’s more than doubled this year, heading for the biggest jump in more than two decades. Futures for March delivery increased 1.1 percent to $3.2375 a pound on the New York Mercantile Exchange’s Comex unit. The March contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed up 1.9 percent to 56,510 yuan ($8,276) a ton. Chinese prices usually include a 17 percent value added tax and import fee. Electronic trading on the LME closes at 4 p.m. today. The exchange is closed tomorrow and Dec. 28. Copper stockpiles monitored by the LME added 0.4 percent to 484,800 tons. Inventory has expanded for 38 consecutive days, the longest streak since 1999. Including stockpiles tracked by exchanges in Shanghai and New York, inventory increased 75 percent this year to 678,100 tons, the highest since February 2004, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Orders for U.S. durable goods, an indicator of metals demand, probably increased 0.5 percent in November after declining 0.6 percent in October, according to the median estimate of 72 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The Commerce Department is scheduled to issue the report at 8:30 a.m. in Washington. Tin gained as much as 0.8 percent to $16,150 a ton, the highest since October 2008. Among other LME metals for three-month delivery, aluminum increased 0.6 percent to $2,270 a ton and zinc fell 0.5 percent to $2,527.50 a ton. Lead added 1.3 percent at $2,360 a ton and nickel advanced 1.8 percent to $18,760 a ton. To contact the reporter on this story: Chanyaporn Chanjaroen in London at cchanjaroen@bloomberg.net

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