Nickel has been boosted by shutdowns at Brazil's Vale Inco's nickel mines and expectations of restocking by stainless steel mills, which use about two-thirds of global production.

"The rally has run ahead of fundamentals and prices need to come back a bit to where there might be some more buying interest," Robin Bhar, an analyst at Calyon said.

Zinc traded at $1,845 a tonne from $1,815, lead was traded at $1,840 versus $1,815 and tin traded at $14,950 from Tuesday's last bid at $14,650.

Focus in the tin market was on the dominant position holder which has bought tin for delivery in September and sold it for December. The premium for the September contract stands at around $500 compared with $1,000 on July 31.

LONDON - Copper rose on Wednesday, with support from a weaker U.S. dollar ahead of a statement from the Federal Reserve on growth prospects in the United States, the world's largest economy.

Gold advanced for a second straight day as the U.S. dollar weakened, boosting the appeal of precious metals as alternative assets. Silver gained, while platinum and palladium declined. Gold for December delivery settled at $952.50 (U.S.) an ounce in New York, up $4.90.


CLOSING PRICES (SPOT)

Nickel US$/lb 8.88 0.07

Copper US$/lb 2.81 0.07

Gold US$/troy ounce 946.85 1.20

Silver US$/troy ounce 14.56 1.23

Lead US$/lb 0.83 0.02

Zinc US$/lb 0.83 0.02

Aluminum US$/lb 0.89 0.03

Oil West Texas US$/bbl 70.16 0.71

Nat Gas Henry Hub US$ mmbtu 3.36 -0.18

Nat.Gas AECO C C$/gigajoule 2.93 -0.04

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24 Hour Base Metals

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