On Wednesday, LME copper fell to a two week low of $6,825 a ton, after touching a low of $6815 a ton. The most traded April Copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange 1.1% to 48,140 Yuan or $7700 per ton. 

 

Reuters reported that also dampening appetite for copper, China's north eastern port of Qingdao halted some shipments of aluminium and copper last week due ot an investigation by authorities. 

 

The market is awaiting the US non-farm payrolls report. SMC Comtrade said base metals may trade sideways with some short covering can be seen at lower levels. At India's Multi Commodity Exchange, Copper may trade in range of 404-412 while Lead may move in range of 123.50-125.50. Aluminum may move in range of 107.50-109. Nickel may move in range of 1120-1145 in MCX. Zinc may move in range of 123-125.  

 

Copper traded near a three-week low as investors weighed shrinking stockpiles against reports of a probe of metals warehousing at a Chinese port. Inventories tracked by the LME have dropped 54 percent this year to 168,475 tons, bourse data showed yesterday. Nickel in London was little changed at $19,015 a ton. Production at Vale SA’s plant in New Caledonia is set to resume within 10 days after the company received government permission to restart operations.