Shanghai copper up

Shanghai copper prices jumped 3.1 percent on Friday to their highest since the start of 2007 and came within 30 yuan of their daily limit when the market opened, tracking a 5-percent surge in London futures.
The most active May contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange was at 60,800 yuan ($7,854) a tonne on Friday, up 1,830 yuan or 3.1 percent from Thursday's close.
"Shanghai copper should have reached its daily upside limit after London's rise, but it was capped as traders expected stockpiles in Shanghai will increase again this week," said analyst Wang Zheng at Dalu Futures.
Copper stocks in Shanghai are expected to rise by 6,000 tonnes in the week ended on Thursday, trade sources said. Spot copper was up 2,100 yuan at between 60,550 yuan and 60,800 yuan.
LME copper for three-month delivery ticked lower to $6,520 a tonne, from the previous close of $6,530, when prices jumped 5 percent and hit a three-month high.
"The downside pressure on copper that was around early this year has gone. Money is coming back in and we are targeting $7,000 to $7,200," a trader in Singapore said. Shanghai aluminium for June delivery was up 60 yuan at 19,700 yuan a tonne.
Primary aluminium was traded between 19,380 yuan to 19,410 yuan a tonne in Shanghai's cash market. Shanghai aluminium stockpiles are expected to increase by about 20,000 tonnes.
"Increased availability is pushing down spot prices and weighing on futures," Dalu Futures' Wang said. LME aluminium was $14 lowers at $2,775 a tonne, well witching its $2,600 to $2,850 range.
"We are still taking of range-trading for aluminium, but there is support from rising cost pressures, which will maintain prices for the time being," the Singapore trader said. "Longer term, prices will have to edge lower." Nickel rose to $47,200, up $100 from Thursday's close, and prices were expected to build further on Thursday's record high of $47,890.
Nickel stocks in LME registered warehouses fell 222 tonnes to 3,594 tonnes on Thursday, of which only 2,466 tonnes, or less than one day of global consumption, are on warrant and available to the market. Jinchuan Group, China's top nickel producer, raised prices by 10,000 yuan to 357,000 yuan a tonnes in reaction to the LME surge.