It's like that joke about the weather, if you don't like it wait half-an-hour and it will change! No wonder investors are shy about getting into commodities when they can't seem to make up their minds whether it is going up or down or, most importantly, what is China doing.

LONDON — Copper was steady on Thursday, after a 2 percent fall the previous session, and was on track for a 10 percent increase this quarter, although doubts over demand in China and over the pace of economic recovery in the U.S. made investors cautious.

Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) traded at $8,330 a tonne in official rings, little changed from a close of $8,349 on Wednesday.

The metal, used in power and construction, started the week on a strong note after the Federal Reserve suggested further monetary easing could not be ruled out.

It pared gains later in the week as data showed new orders for long-lasting U.S. factory goods were weaker-than-expected, casting doubt on the pace of recovery in the world’s largest economy and raising concerns about base metals demand growth rate.

The red metal is now on track for a 10 percent increase this quarter after having risen as much as 15 percent in February. Tin, the best performing metal so far, was on course for a 17 percent quarterly increase, zinc for a 8 percent rise while aluminium was up 6 percent on the quarter.

“Copper this quarter is in the middle of the pack. All these base metals will show reasonable growth this year; not as good as last year, but reasonable, and the second quarter is seasonally stronger for manufacturing around the world,” said Nick Moore, an analyst at RBS.

“For all base metals there is a supply surge underway but copper risks another handsome supply shortage and we know China is structurally short. They need to import millions of tonnes.”

http://business.financialpost.com/2012/03/29/copper-on-track-for-big-gain-this-quarter/