The base metals were directionless on Wednesday. Copper seesawed its way through a lot of ups and downs, but with an ultimate bias to the upside as it finished at $1.4462/lb., up two cents. Nickel also had some sharp reversals, but eventually fell to its intraday low of $4.2887/lb., down 11¼ cents.

Zinc sank in the pre-dawn hours but fought its way back to just off its intraday high at $0.4939/lb., up a half-cent. Aluminum was closely rangebound and wound up unchanged at $0.5863/lb., while lead was weak, shedding more than a penny and three-quarters, to $0.4781/lb.

Copper clawed its way up from a 2½-week low, edging into positive territory as stockpile data turned positive for a change.

Inventories monitored by the LME posted their first decline in two weeks, falling by 1,125 metric tons, to 525,300 tons. Though it was a relatively modest retreat, it still represented the biggest percentage drop since early December and the first 1,000+-ton decline since last October.

Traders were able to put aside early concerns brought on by the weak housing data, as well skepticism engendered by the Obama Administration’s plan to help stem foreclosures.

“The housing starts came out this morning much lower than expected,” wrote Miguel Perez-Santalla, of Heraeus Precious Metals Management in New York. But “copper, which had already fallen out of bed, is still standing after the bad news.”

(NYSE:MF) MF Global’s Meir believes the reason is that eyes are elsewhere. “Of the two sectors — housing and autos — the focus will be more on Detroit, and on what exactly the government intends to do after it reviews the various restructuring proposals being submitted to it,” Meir said.

“Some technical buying could also be coming in, as prices approach $3,000 support,” Meir added. Copper for delivery in three months has been testing the $3,000/ton level, and settled yesterday at $3,235. That’s so far from the record of $8,940, set last July 2, that many analysts see decent support here.

In production news, the Chilean government expressed its pleasure that China’s state-owned Chinalco has taken a stake in the world’s biggest copper mine, Escondida.

“We are very satisfied that a company like Chinalco, a Chinese company of such great size, has decided to invest an important amount of money in our country,” Mining Minister Santiago Gonzalez said.

Source: Base Metals Mixed