Copper jumped to the highest in more than four months in London as global equities rallied, raising expectations a slump in demand for commodities will slow. Nickel advanced the most since January.
Copper and alloy shipments into China, the biggest consumer of the metal, rose 55% to 283,461 metric tonnes in February from the prior month, the highest since at least 2004. Shares gained for a fifth day as the Group of 20 vowed to clean up toxic assets and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S Bernanke said a recession may end this year.
Copper for delivery in three months climbed $160, or 4.4%, to $3,830 a tonne by 5:02 pm on the London Metals Exchange. Earlier it touched $3,841, the highest intraday price since November 14. Nickel rose 5.5% to $10,125 a tonne after touching $10,220, the highest intraday price since February 26 and the largest percentage gain since January 23.
Inventories of copper in LME-monitored warehouses fell 0.6% to 494,850 tonnes after falling 3.7% last week, the biggest decline since September. Stockpiles have slumped about 9% since February 25. LME-monitored stocks in South Korea, the nearest to China, have fallen for 17 straight days and are down by more than half since the start of the year.
Aluminum was up $14, or 1%, to $1,361 a tonne. LME- monitored stockpiles of the metal climbed to a record 3.37 million tonnes, more than tripling in the past year.
Lead for three-month delivery rose $53, or 4.2%, to $1,302 a tonne. It has added 30% this year, the most among the six main metals traded on the LME.