Copper gains ahead of China imports report

Copper prices were higher in New York and London on the possibility that a report due tomorrow will say that China imported more of the metal in February than it did in January, when it imported almost 233,000 tonnes.

The hopes come on data showing that London Metal Exchange inventories of copper have gone down by 6.6 percent in the past two weeks.

LME stockpiles were down 1.3 percent on the session, to 513,025 tonnes, and canceled warrants for metal to be removed were at 46,175 tonnes.

May copper was up 5 cents to $1.68 in New York trade, while at last report three-month copper on the LME was up $99 to $3,710 per tonne after earlier being up to $3,735 per tonne.

Earlier in the afternoon, three-month aluminium in London was $31 higher to $1,330 per tonne despite another gain in inventories to 3.28 million tonnes, while lead tin, zinc and nickel were all also higher in afternoon trade.

The price of lead has gained almost 30 percent this year on demand for use in the manufacture of batteries for motor vehicles.

Prices for precious metals, however, were lower in New York.

April gold was down $22.10 to $895.90 per troy ounce while May silver fell 40 cents to $12.54 per troy ounce and April platinum dropped $19.90 to $1,044.30 per troy ounce.

Earlier, in morning trade, palladium had dropped $1.65 to $197.45 per troy ounce.

Platinum and palladium saw declines after new data showed that manufacturing activity has declined in France and the UK.