Copper fell as investors booked profits with the leadgaining around 5 percent

Tag : lead,copper
 Copper prices slipped on Friday onworries over demand from China, the world's biggest consumer of themetal, and as London Metal Exchange stocks rose to a six-monthhigh.
Copper for delivery in three months closed at $7,510 a tonne from$7,535 at the close on Thursday.
LME stocks of copper, used in the construction and powerindustries, jumped 3,325 tonnes to 173,375, their highest levelsince Feb. 4, while Shanghai stocks shed 19 percent this week.
The stock decrease in Shanghai helped the market a little bit, butwas almost matched by the increase in inventories in the LME, saidSteve Hardcastle, analyst at Sucden.
Traders also said that Shanghai stocks could rise next week.
"People were hopeful there might be a pick-up in Chinese demandafter the Olympics, although we are not really getting the feelingthat is starting to come through as yet," said Dan Smith, analystat Standard Chartered (other-otc: SCBEF.PK - news - people ).
Shanghai inventories fell a greater-than-expected 4,171 tonnes to17,625 in the week ended on Thursday, their lowest in three yearsand enough for less than two days of Chinese consumption.
"The latest reduction of stocks in Shanghai is partly due to thetransfer of stocks between various warehouses in Asia, as LMEstocks in Asia outside China have risen in this same period," saidCommerzbank in a note.

LEAD FALLS
Three-month lead dropped 5 percent to a low of $1,940 per tonnebefore closing at $1,980. On Thursday, the metal saw a weaktechnical close of $2,040 encouraging selling.
The metal also fell as investors booked profits with the leadgaining around 5 percent in the past week, traders said.
"Key triggers to sentiment within the base metals are stilldependent on the U.S. dollar strength and metal inventory levels,"said Charles Cooper, analyst at Evolution Securities, in a note.
"Rising inventory levels at this time of year is not surprisinggiven the summer slowdown and recent effect of the Olympic Games.One danger we feel is that the market may be expecting China tobounce back over the next week or so, but could be disappointedshould this take longer," he said.
Figures released on Thursday showed copper output in Chile, theworld's biggest producer, fell 5.5 percent in July from the samemonth last year failed to make an impact.
"The market is not in the least bit concerned. In the past it wouldhave picked up on the news and that tells us that people are stillconcerned about the economic backdrop," Standard Chartered's Smithsaid.
International Copper and Study Group (ICSG) data showed the marketnarrowed to a 155,000-tonne deficit in January to May 2008, from a238,000-tonne deficit last year.
Trading on Friday was affected by a public holiday in the UnitedStates on Monday and because it is the last trading day of themonth.
"The end of month today will likely see a more volatile session,with funds targeting commodity prices for positive monthlyvaluations," said an LME trader.
Aluminium eased to $2,714 a tonne, from $2,730, after earlierfalling to its lowest price since February 14. Stocks in LMEwarehouses rising 1,250 tonnes to 1.169 million -- the highestlevel since April 2004.
Nickel dropped to $20,250 from $20,500 on worries about demand fromstainless steel producers, the biggest users of the metal.
Zinc, mainly used to galvanise steel, was lower at $1,811 from$1,799 a tonne, while tin fell to $20,000 from $21,150. (Additionalreporting by Anna Stablum; editing by Christopher Johnson) Copyright 2008 Reuters, Click for Restriction