The base metals were all basking in the green again on Friday. Copper had another strong day, pushing steadily higher from the pre-dawn hours to the noon hour, after which it came off a little to finish at $2.1688/lb., up 4 cents.

Nickel was choppier but had an upward bias, closing just off its intraday high at $6.2271/lb., up nearly 11 cents. Zinc followed copper’s path closely, ending at $0.6828/lb., up 2½ cents. Aluminum moved ahead, tacking on more than a penny, to $0.6353/lb., while lead made a powerful move, adding 3 2/3 cents, to $0.705/lb.

Copper led the industrials higher for a second day in a row, and ended May with its fifth straight monthly gain, as traders rode the declining dollar and those elusive green shoots northward.

Copper is now up 56% on the year, as commodities in general have done well. The Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index of 19 commodity futures posted a 12% gain in May, the biggest monthly leap since July 1974.

“Investors are eager to jump back into the market on signs of bullishness for commodities and the economy,” said Michael Gross, of OptionSellers.com in Tampa, Florida. “The dollar’s rapid collapse is really adding fuel to the fire.”

In addition to the weakening buck, “Recent positive economic data from Asia … are supporting prices,” said Eugen Weinberg, of Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt. “Stronger economic data imply better demand for commodities, especially cyclical ones like base metals.”

Bolstering that view, Japan’s industrial output rose 5.2% in April, the most in 56 years, while India’s economy, Asia’s third-biggest, grew 5.8% in the first quarter.

And stockpile data continued to be their helpful selves, with copper inventories monitored by the LME declining 4,850 metric tons yesterday, to 312,275 tons.

Source: Base Metals in Sea of Green Again