MCX metals firm on global cues

MCX base metals were up on Thursday, mirroring trends in the overseas markets, said analysts and traders.

Strong buying interest from Chinese traders triggered a positive trend in copper on the London Metal Exchange, which in turn pushed up domestic prices of the red metal, they said.

Meanwhile, decline in copper and lead inventories in LME-monitored warehouses lent support to the two metals, they said. A lead refinery shutdown in China also fuelled the grey metal's price in the international market.

The other base metals moved up on spill over strength from copper and lead.

In the domestic market, Hindustan Zinc kept lead prices unchanged on Thursday. This, too, helped the metal prices edge up in domestic futures.

On MCX, all six metals opened on a positive note but copper and zinc were the only ones retain gains in early trades as they moved up over 1%. The two were later joined by nickel and lead on the chart. Lead contracts are currently trading 4% higher, while nickel has edged up nearly 1.5%.

Lead may find support at Rs 99.20 a kg and face resistance at Rs 107 a kg on MCX, said Hitesh Jain, analyst, Angel Broking. At 3:56 pm, lead for December delivery was at Rs 104.35 a kg, up 4.25% from Wednesday's close.

Aluminium and tin were marginally up since early trades on MCX. "Barring lead, remaining metals are likely to edge down in the rest of the session," said Jain. "The refinery shutdown in China may keep lead prices higher on Thursday," he added.

Meanwhile, Jain expects MCX copper to trade in the Rs 259.90-268 a kg range for the rest of the trading day.