SINGAPORE: Most metals advanced on Monday amid surprisingly strong data on U.S. economic growth and solid profit numbers from Chinese industrial firms, although trading was tight ahead of holidays in top consumer China.
The U.S. economy accelerated more than expected in the first quarter, putting to rest fears of a recession. But there was caution over less upbeat aspects of a GDP report which pointed to some weakening ahead.
Profits at China's industrial firms grew in March, rebounding from four months of contraction, adding to optimism the world's second-largest economy may be starting to stabilise.
The Shanghai Futures Exchange will be shut from the night trading session on Tuesday, reopening next Monday.
FUNDAMENTALS
* COPPER: Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange rose 0.2 percent to $6,411.50 a tonne by 0744 GMT, while the most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange was almost flat at 48,850 yuan ($7,260.05) a tonne.
* ZINC: London zinc fell 0.4 percent to $2,757 a tonne, after data on Friday showed stocks in warehouse approved by the London Metal Exchange (LME) increased 3,600 tonnes, or 4.7 percent, from a day earlier. <MZNSTX-TOTAL>
* "Last week saw open interest in Zinc put options increase in June and July with strike prices ranging from $2,400 to $2,600 and with considerably more open interest than there are stocks in LME warehouses, so more metal may well be on its way," said Malcolm Freeman of Kingdom Futures.
* ZINC RAILWAY: A railway that carries zinc from major producers such as Glencore across Australia's outback has reopened to freight trains, the line's owner Queensland Rail said.
* TRADE: U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said trade talks with China were going very well, as the two countries seek to end talks with a trade agreement to defuse tensions.
* ALUMINIUM: Fitch Solutions revised down its 2019 aluminium prices forecast to $2,000 a tonne, from $2,150 previously, after prices underperformed its expectations in the past weeks, it said in a report released on Monday.
* Easing supply concerns, a U.S. decision to lift sanctions on major Rusal , Norsk Hydro's plant reaching full capacity as well as new smelters coming online have kept a lid on prices, Fitch said.
* BAUXITE: Guinea, Africa's biggest producer of bauxite, expects to boost its energy production capacity by nearly four-fold over the next six years as it pushes mining companies to refine their bauxite output locally, its energy minister said.
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