Shanghai Futures Exchange copper was flat at 54,800 yuan ($8,402) a tonne on Wednesday, having found support at the 100-day moving average of 53,180 yuan a tonne. ShFE nickel rose to its highest in nearly two months at 100,900 yuan a tonne. A trader said he expects China's nickel imports to fall further after the country raised import taxes to 2 percent for 2018, from 1 percent last year.
China's refined nickel imports slumped by 43.7 percent to under 200,000 tonnes in the first 11 months of 2017. Standard Chartered said investors should wait until late in the first quarter to buy into the sector, particularly zinc and copper, given net-long investor positioning, a typical first-quarter surplus and the likelihood of liquidation ahead of Lunar New Year.
"We think there is limited risk/reward for fresh long positions in the short term," Standard Chartered said in a report. "We recommend that investors ... seek buying opportunities for some metals (on a fundamental basis) in the aftermath of any such Lunar New Year positioning consolidation."
The global economy is set to expand by 3.1 percent in 2018, slightly up from 3 percent last year and marking the first year since the 2008 Great Recession that it will near or achieve full growth potential, the World Bank said. China's producer prices rose at their slowest pace in 13 months in December, as the government's war against winter smog dented factory demand for raw materials in a sign the world's No.2 economy has started to slow.