MARKET UPDATE 15 SEPTEMBER, 6 PM

Industrial metals prices sank on Monday as investors dumped

positions to seek refuge in safer assets after Lehman Brothers filed

for bankruptcy.The US financial system faced an unprecedented

shake-up as Bank of America announced it would buy Merrill Lynch,

AIG was reported to be seeking help from the Federal Reserve, and

the Fed said for the first time it would accept stocks in exchange for

cash loans.European equity markets were sold-off heavily while US

stock futures tumbled and the dollar was hammered.But the weaker

dollar failed to offer support for metals, with copper slipping as much

as 2 percent and nickel dropping more than 3 percent.Copper for

three-months delivery on the London Metal Exchange was at

$6 975/6 995 per tonne by 09:28 GMT, down from Friday's close

of $7 122 per tonne."It's going to be unpredictable, erratic and choppy,"

said analyst Robin Bhar at Calyon. "(It is) a shock to have two banks

literally disappear.""People are wondering what kind of implications

this will have for financial markets ... The uncertainty will linger, and

while that's happening, people will back away from doing too much," he

said.Metals markets were already under pressure after copper and

aluminium touched record highs earlier this year.Lack demand from

China, rising inventories and worries over the health of the global

economy have all helped depress metals.