London 30/06/2016 - Base metals continued to shake off the concerns and uncertainty surrounding the UK vote to leave the EU during Thursday LME trading, with most of the complex notching up multi-month highs, traders said.
Today, copper, aluminium, lead and nickel all touched their best levels for some two months while zinc hit an 11-month high comfortably above $2,100 amid rising risk appetite and business linked to the end of the first half.
"We see the LME group as being relatively ring-fenced to Brexit concerns and trading more on news out of China," Ed Meir of broker INTL FCStone said.
Firmer steel prices, a weakening yuan and continued monetary easing by the government are supporting metals prices to some extent, he added.
Industrial metals have recovered robustly from the Brexit-based sell-off seen almost a week ago - a broader 'risk-on' tone has emerged while equity markets have bounced back.
In other markets, the UK FTSE swung upwards again and was around 6,460, the Dow Jones was 102 points higher and spot Brent crude oil was above the $50 level at some $50.80 per barrel.
On the data side, US weekly jobless claims were much as expected at 268,000, while the Chicago PMI for June was 56.8, well above a forecast 50.6.
Earlier, May German retail sales were better than expected, rising 0.9 percent. Among other European releases, French consumer spending declined 0.7 percent in May, more than the forecast 0.1-percent fall.
Copper rose as high as $4,865 before concluding the kerb at $4,845 per tonne, up $7 on Wednesday's close. Earlier, warehouse stocks fell a net 2,675 tonnes to 191,525 tonnes.
Zinc, as high as $2,116 earlier, ended at $2,104.50, a $15.50 gain. Stocks climbed 16,950 tonnes to a three-month high of 443,175 tonnes due to a 18,200-tonne warranting in New Orleans.
Nickel peaked at $9,550 before ending at $9,445, a slight $5 advance. Inventories fell again, down 948 tonnes at 379,338 tonnes, now the lowest since October 2014.
In the other metals, aluminium was last at $1,649, up $13.50, with stocks falling this morning by 5,750 tonnes to a fresh low since January 2009 of 2,387,850 tonnes. Lead's close at $1,787 was $17 higher, with inventories falling 1,025 tonnes to 185,725 tonnes.
Tin slipped slightly to $17,050, down a modest $45, although stocks fell 75 tonnes to a two-month low of 5,985 tonnes. Steel billet was quoted at $300/325, cobalt at $23,600/24,000 and molybdenum at $16,500/17,000.
(Editing by Mark Shaw)