Shanghai copper hit a more than 2-1/2-month high on Thursday, catching up with London's price rally in the past two days after initial reluctance, but concerns of a sluggish physical market and liquidity weigh. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange rose $66.5 to $7,846.5 a tonne by 0700 GMT, holding firm below the 19-month peak of $7,878 hit earlier in the week.
LME copper rallied 6 percent in the first three months of year. Spot copper prices in Shanghai remained weak, while copper stockpiles in warehouses monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange was just below a 7-year high at 155,465 tonnes last Friday. LME copper inventories fell throughout March, down 575 tonnes to 514,325 tonnes on Wednesday, their lowest since January 8 - something taken as a sign of rising global demand.
Shanghai zinc hit 19,355 yuan, highest since late February, before ending at 19,245 yuan, up 2.4 percent. But it remained the underperformer in metals traded on the Shanghai exchange, down more than 9 percent so far this year. LME zinc edged up $14.75 to $2,389.75, after hitting a 3-week high of $2,408.5 in the previous session.