The base metals were all in positive territory on Friday. Copper spiked sharply higher during the pre-dawn hours, dropped off a little after the New York open, then traded dead flat through the day, finishing at $3.2086/lb., up 11 2/3 cents.

Nickel was in an uptrend for most of the day, only coming off its highs near the end, to close at $7.606/lb., up 5 2/3 cents. Zinc had a good day, ending just off its intraday high at $0.7924/lb., up a penny and a half. Aluminum peaked just after the New York open, then traded listlessly, eventually adding less than a penny and a half, at $1.1297/lb., while lead held onto its strong pre-dawn gains, winding up by tacking on nearly 3 cents, to $0.8467/lb.

Copper jumped the most in a month as traders continued to react positively to the government’s desperation moves to stabilize the credit markets.

Copper is getting a “feel-good” bounce because of the the Treasury plan, wrote Edward Meir, of MF Global (NYSE:MF). That the primary reason we were seeing “copper prices do a bit better over the course of the day,” he said.

Meanwhile, although nickel submitted a tepid rise on Friday, it chalked up its biggest weekly drop in four years on growing stockpiles. Inventories monitored by the LME advanced 0.9% yesterday, to 52,326 tons, the highest level since July 1999.

“We’ve seen some chunky flows of stocks into nickel,” said Robin Bhar, a metals analyst at Calyon in London. “Demand is very weak.”

And in company news, BHP CEO Marius Kloppers reiterated that his firm’s hostile bid for Rio Tinto is a good deal, especially given current global turmoil. “We view this transaction, if anything, as more attractive under these slightly more uncertain circumstances,” Kloppers said.

Rio’s shares this past week traded at a record discount to BHP’s takeover bid.

Source: Industrial Metals Move Up