Base metals rally

Industrial metals rallied on Friday, with copper hitting its highest in over two years for a third straight day as a surprise fall in US jobs strengthened talk of fresh moves to boost the world's biggest economy. Benchmark copper jumped to $8,349.50 a tonne, its highest since mid-July 2008 and ended the day at $8,300 a tonne, up 2.5 percent from $8,100 a tonne on Thursday.
"It looks like weak economic data is actually positive for commodities as it boosts expectations of quantitative easing out of the United States which has been one of the motivators of the market recently," analyst Daniel Brebner at Deutsche Bank said. Copper has risen more than 30 percent since hitting an eight-month low in June, at the forefront of a rise in metals prices that saw tin hit a record high this week.
Copper is also benefiting from a tightening market, where stocks in LME warehouses have tumbled more than 30 percent since the middle of February. Friday's data showed LME stocks down 1,450 tonnes to 372,000 tonnes, having fallen from seven-year highs above 555,000 in late February. Talk of launching physically backed exchange-traded copper products (ETPs) looks to be a cause of unease as consumers think it could reduce the availability of the metal.
The supply side worries, along with an uncertain demand outlook as well as the sustainability of high metal prices, will be at the heart of this year's LME Week, the annual gathering of the metals industry in London, due next week.
Aluminium rallied more than 4 percent to hit $2,422 a tonne, its highest since April 20 and closed at $2,420 a tonne versus Thursday's close of $2,326 a tonne.
Among other metals, tin rose to $26,350 a tonne versus Thursday's close of $25,600, short of Wednesday's record peak at $26,790, underpinned by tight supply from top exporter Indonesia and low stocks. Stainless steel material nickel closed at $24,400 a tonne from Thursday's close of $23,900, while battery material lead rose to $2,270 a tonne versus $2,209. Lead inventories slipped 900 tonnes but remain near 10-year highs at around 198,400 tonnes. Zinc gained to $2,289 a tonne versus $2,261 a tonne.