Copper, Aluminum Loses Zing

Copper lost some of its zing in mid-day LME trading on Friday undermined by contracting nearby spreads while the other metals also eased in uneventful trade.

The fund buying which had driven zinc prices to 4-1/2 year highs and copper towards $2,400 on Thursday was noticeably absent in the LME mid-day trading session, traders said.

Three months copper settled $8 lower at $2,382 per tonne at the end of the kerb, edging away from $2,400 resistance in tandem with narrowing nearby spreads. Early light speculative buying had swept prices to $2,395 in the pre-market. But the gains were rapidly wiped out amid lack of follow through and end-of-week profit taking which was seen throughout the complex, traders said.

Not helpfully, the cash/three months backwardation came in to finish the kerb around $45/$50, compared to $60/$65 on Thursday afternoon.

During the official ring May/June dates narrowed to a $10 backwardation from $16.

Zinc was also just easier at $1,326, down $4, after fresh fund buying failed to emerge.

Lead suffered from zinc's failure to perform and tumbled $16 to $620, traders said.

Aluminium also came off an early high of $1,673 and failed to recover settling $9 down from Thursday's kerb at $1,661

Although it was struggling to breach resistance just above $1,670, prices were nevertheless being underpinned by declining LME stocks which have shrunk to a one-year low, traders said.

Stocks declined 4,225 tonnes on Friday bringing the total drawdown for the week to 14,275 tonnes

"The figures look good on aluminium stocks, traders said.