London 27/05/2016 - Base metals ended in positive territory on Friday, with some end-of-month book-squaring taking place ahead of the long weekend, traders said.
"Trading has been quiet, with most of the action taking place in the Asian session," a trader said. "A lot of investors are in wait-and-see mode ahead of the long weekend, waiting for further clues from the US and China."
US Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen is due to give a speech later today that has taken on extra significance following a hawkish FOMC statement on US interest rate-rises earlier this month.
"It is unlikely that she will comment on the economic outlook, which no doubt will be disappointing for hundreds of traders who are staying put at the start of a long holiday weekend," INTL FCStone analyst Edward Meir noted.
Markets in the UK and US will be closed on Monday.
In today's data, preliminary first quarter US GDP was in line with projections at 0.8 percent while the preliminary GDP price index at 0.6 percent was slightly below the forecast of 0.7 percent.
Consumer sentiment undershot at 94.7 and inflation expectations came in at 2.4 percent. Next week's Chinese manufacturing PMI data will be closely eyed.
In the metals, copper briefly went back above $4,700 but failed to hold on there - it closed at $4,695 per tonne, still up $34 on Thursday's close. More than 12,000 lots changed hands on Select by the kerb close.
Stocks fell a net 2,225 tonnes to 153,750 tonnes while cancelled warrants climbed 2,500 tonnes to 50,100 tonnes - almost 4,000 tonnes were freshly cancelled in Johor.
Meanwhile, SHFE copper stocks continued to slide - today's data showed a 14-percent week-on-week loss to 221,212 tonnes.
"[There are] signs of copper restocking in China as domestically traded copper trades at a small premium to on-exchange and falling Shanghai copper stocks adds some scale-down support," a second trader said.
Aluminium edged 50 cents higher to end at $1,556. Stocks fell 5,900 tonnes to 2,534,000 tonnes while cancelled warrants fell 4,500 tonnes to 1,136,900 tonnes.
Spreads have tightened, with the benchmark cash/threes last at a contango of $8.25 while cash/July was at $6.50.
Nickel climbed $25 to $8,420; stocks rose 1,848 tonnes to 402,744 tonnes after more than 3,200 tonnes were delivered into Johor.
Cancelled warrants increased in Kaohsiung to 19,332 tonnes after 6,996 tonnes were freshly cancelled. There has been an on-off scenario playing out at this location - almost 23,000 tonnes have been cancelled this week although 9,930 tonnes of this total have been put back on warrant.
Zinc concluded at $1,899, an increase of $23, after stocks fell 2,025 tonnes at 383,000 tonnes. Tightness has appeared in spreads, with cash/June at a backwardation of $2.50 and cash/threes at $2.
Lead at $1,698 was $22 higher at the close - stocks edged 25 tonnes lower to 185,250 tonnes.
Tin ended $350 higher at $16,200 although stocks continue to increase, rising a further 70 tonnes to 7,115 tonnes.
Steel was last indicated at $65/115 and cobalt and molybdenum at $23,500/24,000 and $14,800/15,300 respectively.
(Additional reporting by Kathleen Retourne, editing by Mark Shaw)