Winter Park, Florida 23/09/2016 - Base metals on the London Metals Exchange ended the week with a whimper - some pre-weekend profit-taking zapped some strength out of the earlier rally.
"The across-the board-gain in commodities yesterday was notable in that the dollar did not weaken all that much against major currencies, although it continued to recede against emerging market ones," INTL FCStone analyst Edward Meir noted.
"Today we're are seeing a somewhat mixed session in the markets, as investors are presumably taking something of a break after two days of buying," he added.
Copper finished at $4,855 per tonne, up a modest $2 on Thursday's close and 1.3 percent higher for the week.
"We have avoided getting bearish on China's growth this year and it looks as though there is room for some optimism. As well as some better economic data, reports from consumers look brighter. We wait to see what the next Chinese PMI data says," FastMarkets head of research William Adams said.
Copper stocks, meanwhile, jumped to a one-year high, up 10,825 tonnes at 356,875 tonnes - the trend of sizeable deliveries into Asian listed warehouses restarted in a tug of war between two trading houses, with one trading house and smelters continuing to deliver while another trading house attempts to tighten the market by cancelling stocks.
Stocks rose 4,475 tonnes at both Busan and Port Klang and 1,900 tonnes at Gwangyang. There was also a 1,000-tonne parcel into Rotterdam but cancelled warrants also jumped 6,575 tonnes to 59,800 tonnes.
In data, the EU flash manufacturing PMI at 52.6 was better than expected but the flash services PMI undershot at 52.1. The US flash manufacturing PMI for September came in at 51.4, below the forecast of 52.1 and the August figure of 52.0.
In wider markets, the Dow Jones industrial average and S&P were both down 0.34 percent while the dollar was a little softer at 1.1222 against the euro.
As for the other metals, aluminium managed to stay in positive territory, climbing $4 to end at $1,637 per tonne. Inventories dropped 6,700 tonnes to 2,146,725 tonnes while cancelled warrants were down 7,875 tonnes to 877,800 tonnes. Should these inventory trends continue, aluminium stocks would be below two million tonnes by LME Week.
"The recent market action confirms our view that the uptrend in LME aluminium prices in place since late last year is set to continue," FastMarkets analyst Boris Mikanikrezai said.
"We see renewed signs of tightness in the refined aluminium market (i.e. tighter spreads and falling visible inventories) and a pick-up in the physical market. We think aluminium prices will reach a fresh 2016 high over the next one to three months," he added.
Lead concluded was $31 lower at $1,919 per tonne, while stocks dropped 25 tonnes to 191,000 tonnes. Large deliveries of lead are set to be made to listed LME warehouses in Europe and Asia sheds next week while large-scale warranting and rewarranting takes place in these regions - believed to be orchestrated by Trafigura.
Tin climbed $160 to end at $19,645 following another fall in stocks. Inventories slipped 30 tonnes to 3,715 tonnes and cancelled warrants jumped 1,100 tonnes to 1,860 tonnes. On-warrant material is now at its lowest since 2005 at 1,860 tonnes.
Zinc closed at $2,276, down $18 - stocks fell 1,200 tonnes to 442,650 tonnes, while nickel was unchanged at $10,660 per tonne.
Steel, cobalt and molybdenum were neglected. Cobalt stocks and cancelled warrants both fell one tonne to 625 tonnes and 90 tonnes respectively.
(Additional reporting by Kathleen Retourne, editing by Mark Shaw)