MARKET TALK: Trade Buying Could Boost LME Metals Medium-Term

In the medium term, LME base metals could jump on trade buying due to the end of the Chinese New Year and ahead of the seasonally busy second quarter, says William Adams of BaseMetals.com. Moreover, the copper and zinc stocks situation is showing some signs of improving, which at the end of the day is probably one of the most important factors driving sentiment at the moment, Adams says. LME copper stocks fell 1,125 metric tons to 206,050 tons Monday, while zinc stocks fell 1,950 tons to 90,575 tons. Copper trades at $5,955 a metric ton, up 1% from Monday while zinc trades at $3,340/ton, up 2.7% from Monday.