Copper eases on profit taking ahead of fresh Chinese data

LONDON: Copper and other base metals drifted lower on Thursday as speculators took profits ahead of fresh economic data from top metals consumer China.

"I think it's a bit of drift going on and some speculative money coming out of the market," said Caroline Bain, chief commodities economist at Capital Economics.

Investors were waiting for Chinese manufacturing and PMI data due on Friday and Saturday.

Prices were also slipping due to continued worries about the prospects for metals-friendly US economic policies following the collapse of US healthcare reform last week, Bain added.

LME COPPER: London Metal Exchange copper fell 0.4 percent in official trading to $5,882 a tonne, paring a 0.6 percent gain in the previous session, when it hit its highest since March 20 at $5,927.50.

Copper output in world No. 1 producer Chile fell 16.7 percent in February, when a strike hit the huge Escondida mine.

ESCONDIDA: Chile's Escondida named a new president to run the BHP Billiton-operated mine on Thursday, days after the company failed to clinch a wage deal with workers after the historically long strike.

ALUMINIUM: Bucked weaker trend, with the three-month price trading unchanged in official rings at $1,960 after touching $1,965, the highest since May 2015. The gains were due to buying from a mix of CTAs (commodity trading advisors), discretionary funds and traders, according to Alastair Munro at Marex Spectron. LME on-warrant stocks fell to the lowest levels since mid-2008.

ZINC: LME price was down 0.4 percent at $2,848. Korea Zinc Inc, the world's third-largest zinc smelter, has agreed to take a 15 percent drop in annual processing fees for 2017 as smelters grapple with a dearth of mine supply, Metal Bulletin reported.

NICKEL: LME price bid down 0.4 percent to $10,000, with lower prices sparking some consumer buying, Munro at Marex Spectron says.

LEAD/TIN: Lead traded down 0.02 percent at $2,349.50 in official rings, tin bid 0.9 percent lower at $20,000.