Copper struggled for direction on Thursday as upbeat Chinese economic data offset a rebound in the dollar and worries that prices had run ahead of fundamentals. Copper for three-months delivery on the London Metal Exchange was untraded in closing rings, but bid at $6,585 a tonne from a close of $6,590 on Wednesday.
In the previous session, the metal used in power and construction hit $6,665, its highest since September last year. Offering support, China's annual economic growth quickened to 8.9 percent in the third quarter, as expected and refined copper output in the world's largest metals consumer rose to a record 394,800 tonnes in September.
"It's fairly clear that demand outside China is still pretty lacklustre," said Dan Smith, a metals analyst at Standard Chartered. "The recent Chinese data has been pretty upbeat overall...we've become more bullish on China in the last month." Chinese refined production of zinc, nickel and primary aluminium also increased and industrial production rose to 13.9 percent in September from a year ago.
Investors also eyed developments at Chile's Spence copper mine, where workers plan to resume wage talks with owner BHP Billiton to solve a nine-day strike, while workers at Chile's Andina copper mine demanded a five percent wage hike to owner Codelco. Latest LME data showed copper stocks rose 1,525 tonnes to total 364,075 tonnes, the highest since mid-May and up more than 50 percent since the middle of July.
In other metals, zinc, used to galvanise steel, was boosted by prospects for increased demand in China. Three-month LME zinc rose to $2,265 a tonne, the highest since May 2008 but closed at $2,250 versus $2,235 on Wednesday.
Among other industrial metals, aluminium ended at $1,966 a tonne from $1,966, having earlier hit a 2-month high of $1,999.75 while battery material lead closed at $2,405 from $2,445. Tin touched a three-week high of $15,075 but ended $15,000 from $14,450, and steel-making ingredient nickel was at $19,200 from $19,735.