Copper narrows losses

Copper narrowed its earlier losses at the close on the London Metal Exchange (LME) on Wednesday and prices could go higher at the end of the week, analysts said. "Most of the decline is behind us short term...now we expect to see a bounce in almost all the metals," analyst Edward Meir at Man Financial said.
"Looking at the charts, copper could get back to $7,700 or $7,800 a tonne by the end of this week," Meir said. Copper ended at $7,470 a tonne, after hitting an intraday low of $7,310, down 3.3 percent against Tuesday's $7,560 close.
Copper has fallen more than nine percent since last week's one-month high above $8,100. Support for copper was now seen at $7,340, dealers said. The complex found support in US crude halting a run of heavy losses, rising above $64 a barrel after earlier falling to $63.5, the lowest level since March 23.
"Despite tight fundamentals, base metals were caught up in the cross commodity sell-off of the past few days, with downside momentum accelerating with the loss of nearby support levels," UBS analyst Robin Bhar said in a research note.
Most metals were hit by lower oil and gold prices amid a wave of selling by hedge funds and other speculators that sent commodities lower in a general sell-off by the end of last week. But tight supply and strong demand were seen to underpin prices in the medium term. "We suggest re-building/adding to long positions into current weakness on an expectation that physical buying remains robust and that further rallies will be seen in quarter four," Bhar said.
Aluminium recovered in late trade to close at $2,481 versus $2,462 and zinc picked up to end at $3,315, up $35 against Tuesday's kerb close. Nickel closed at $29,050 against $29,295 and the metal was seen trading in a range between $27,000 to $30,000. Barclays Capital technical analysts said that as long as nickel closes above $26,900 the metal could run above $30,000.
"If it does, they (technical analysts) would not try and pick a top and would rather simply follow the trend with trailing stops and allow for further explosive gains," the Barclays Capital report said. Lead closed little changed at $1,300 against $1,298, while tin ended at $8,925 compared with $8,905/8,910.