Copper closed lower in the London Metal Exchange (LME) kerb on Friday on profit-taking and an upbeat dollar but sentiment remained bullish, dealers said.
"The kerb saw some good old profit-taking, as opposed to a sentiment shift. I think copper will revisit recent highs and try to get towards that big figure of $6,000 and I believe zinc will also try to push higher next week," an LME dealer said.
Copper ended at $5,725 a tonne after touching a new peak of $5,830 on the Select electronic platform.
"I think the catalyst behind the softer copper was the dollar rally following the better-than-expected US labour data," he added.
US Treasury long-term debt yields rose to their highest in more than three years, weighing on US stock markets, on expectations the Federal Reserve will continue raising interest rates following the employment report.
European mining shares, like BHP Billiton and Anglo American, gave up early gains to fall into negative territory, as interest rate worries rattled Wall Street, dealers said.
Crude futures were also dampened on expectations that production in Nigeria, hampered by militant activity, could resume shortly.
"It's been very strong over the last few days, but usually on Friday the market does the opposite of what it's done in the week, so there's a bit of end-of-week profit-taking," a fund manager said, referring to metals and energy.
Aluminium softened $50 to $2,540.
The market falling away during the afternoon session was no surprise to traders.
"It has had a stellar week - it had to give something back," another trader said.
Investment funds remain the main driver, and there is little sign that the weight of money coming from this sector will abate.
"The funds are the new flavour - like the late-1990s and the dotcom boom, where whatever you bought guaranteed a profit. That ended in bloodshed, and so will this, but at the moment there is no endgame," he added.
Zinc closed flat at $2,805, after marking a new high of $2,875 on Select.
"Zinc is hanging in there as the spread ($25 backwardation) is very strong. One could argue that zinc is even stronger than copper," the first trader said.
Nickel ended the kerb at $16,850, down $100.
Inco Ltd said on Friday its Goro nickel site on the Island of New Caledonia was hit with more vandalism as a group of locals stepped up its opposition to the massive construction project.
Lead was down $13 at $1,154, while tin gained at $8,430, up $30.
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