Nickel was up all day, closing at its intraday high of $5.7281/lb., up 26 1/3 cents. Zinc also blasted to its intraday high of $0.6737/lb., up more than 3 cents. Aluminum gained modestly, ending at $0.6381/lb., up less than a half-cent, while lead added a penny and 2/3, to $0.646/lb.

Copper led the industrial metals higher, amid record Chinese imports and steadily declining inventories.

Also factoring in was the weaker dollar.

Word from Chinese customs yesterday was that imports of copper rose by 7% in April, as buyers replenished stockpiles. “The strength of Chinese import demand has been pretty phenomenal,” Kevin Norrish, of Barclays Capital in London. “We’ve seen that confirmed again in the import statistics.”

Inbound shipments of refined copper advanced to 317,947 tons in April—more than double imports in April 2008. China imported 1.07 million tons of copper in the first four months, according to customs data. Last year it imported just under 1.5 million tons, according to Macquarie Group London.

At the same time, inventories in warehouses monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell 4% to 33,798 metric tons from 35,389 tons a week ago.

And the London drawdown continued, albeit more modestly than in recent days. Copper inventories monitored by the LME were down 2,700 metric tons yesterday, to 333,375 tons.

Among the other base metals, “We believe fundamentals in the nickel market will start to improve by the end of the year as the market surplus declines rapidly and as the stainless steel sector enters a period of restocking,” Deutsche Bank analysts wrote.

In company news, Aluminum Corp. of China (NYSE:ACH), the largest shareholder in Rio Tinto Group (NYSE:RTP), is considering changing its planned $19.5 billion investment in the world’s third-largest mining company, Caijing Magazine wrote.

“We are indeed considering whether it’s possible to adjust our plan, but the possibility of a change is very small,” a Chinalco executive told Caijing.

Source: Base Metals All See Green