London copper eased after climbing almost 2 percent on Tuesday on tightening world supplies.
ZINC: The most-traded zinc on the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed 2.3 percent higher at 22,935 yuan ($3,314.35) a tonne, after earlier rising to 23,110 yuan a tonne, its loftiest since June 15. Three-month zinc on the London Metal Exchange was largely unchanged.
COPPER: LME copper shed 0.2 percent to $6,282 a tonne while Shanghai copper finished up 0.9 percent at 50,770 yuan a tonne.
INVENTORIES: "Copper inventories have been falling since March, zinc since June...," Standard Chartered bank said in a note. "Macro headwinds have weighed on supportive fundamentals."
CUTBACKS: Production cutbacks at China's zinc smelters in response to tighter environmental checks and weaker profits have tightened supply.
DEMAND: China accounts for nearly half of global refined zinc production of about 13.5 million tonnes. It is also the largest consumer of the metal.
STOCKS: Zinc inventories in LME-registered warehouses fell below 200,000 tonnes from more than 250,000 tonnes in August and are nearing 10-year lows.
SHANGHAI: Stockpiles in Shanghai Futures Exchange storehouses are at 29,204 tonnes, the lowest since 2007.
DEMAND: Demand for refined zinc will exceed supply by 322,000 tonnes this year and 72,000 tonnes in 2019, the International Lead and Zinc Study Group (ILZSG) said on Monday.