Base metals ended higher on Thursday on the London Metal Exchange (LME) with copper supported by industrial unrest and tin rebounding from earlier 17-month lows on bargain-hunting, traders said. "Asarco got copper going on Wednesday, and the Zambia news has helped prices up today but there is no buying from consumers, it's all speculative," one trader said.
On Wednesday Grupo Mexico subsidiary Asarco declared force majeure because of a two-week strike by 1,500 US workers at its copper operations and on Thursday a strike at a Zambian smelter spread to two mines in the country.
Business picked up after subdued early rings. At 1100 GMT, the usually hectic and noisy open-outcry trading floor held a two-minute silence as a tribute to the London bomb victims, which fell during the first two minutes of the regular five-minute copper session.
Copper closed at $3,346 a tonne, up $13, but off the day's high of $3,392.50.
"There is forward selling in copper lurking around and when that emerged the buyers backed off. Right at the end (of the kerb) we saw a little liquidation but the overall volume was low," a second trader said.
Three-months tin recovered from its earlier 17-month low of $6,700 to end at $7,250, up $350.
Fund liquidation has weighed on tin, with the fall under $7,000 on Wednesday triggering sell-stops.
"As always, these things get overdone, so a few people were happy to take it back at the lows," a third trader said.
Tin touched a 15-year high of $9,600 in May 2004, and could remain volatile with stocks down at 3,665 tonnes from over 8,100 at the start of the year.
"At some point, you will see it turn around. And it could get quite messy for the shorts as there is not much stock around," another trader said.
Aluminium rose to $1,842.50, a $28.50 gain, but off an earlier 2-1/2-month peak of $1,852.
Zinc rose $16 to $1,220, while lead gained $13 to $833. Nickel corrected higher after Wednesday's sell-off, and was at $14,450, up $225.