Shanghai zinc moved away from a one-year low and was on course for its first gain in seven trading days on Wednesday, as it tracked a jump on the London Metal Exchange (LME) in the previous session amid plunging inventories.
Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE) zinc stocks dropped by 16,919 tonnes to 58,016 tonnes last week, their lowest since February 2008, while LME zinc stocks have fallen for six straight days.
Shanghai copper closed down 1.2 percent at 48,260 yuan a tonne, while London copper was trading down 0.6 percent at $6,116.50 a tonne as the dollar index strengthened.
The most-traded September zinc contract on the ShFE was up 1.2 percent at 20,485 yuan ($3,055.73) a tonne by the mid-session interval, above Tuesday's one-year low of 20,055 yuan a tonne. It dropped 10 of the previous 13 trading days.
Zinc, used to galvanise steel, is down 11.1 percent so far this month in Shanghai and 11.8 percent in London on concerns about oversupply, but ANZ said it had been boosted by positive data from top metals consumer China on Tuesday.
The metal has "found support after the Chinese house price data reading rose at its fastest pace in 21 months," ANZ wrote in a note, adding that zinc was "one of the metals most leveraged to the housing and construction sectors."