By Michael Taylor and Melanie Burton LONDON, Nov 9 (Reuters) -...

By Michael Taylor and Melanie Burton
LONDON, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Copper hit its highest price in
more than two years on Tuesday, within touching distance of anall-time record as improving fourth-quarter demand and monetary easing plans boosted investor appetite for base metals.

Benchmark copper for three-month delivery CMCU3 on the
London Metal Exchange closed at $8,858 a tonne from $8,660 at the close on Monday.
Prices of the metal used in power and construction, which
earlier hit $8,875 a tonne, are now within sight of a record
high of $8,940 touched in July 2008.
Tin CMSN3 also rose to a fresh all-time peak at $27,500 a
tonne as analysts cited persistent supply doubts in top exporter
Indonesia, while lead jumped over 4 percent to its highest level
since January at $2,639 a tonne.
"When I look at copper, you have got relatively steady
draws on inventories," said Michael Widmer, an analyst at Bank
of America Merrill Lynch. "Growth may be slowing, but overall
the market is not hugely oversupplied for whatever reason -- be
it because of re-stocking or insufficient supply."
Follow-through momentum from last week's surprisingly strong
U.S. jobs data and the Federal Reserve's $600 billion
bond-buying program helped keep the red metal's upside intact.
"We suspect that lingering misgivings about the Fed's QE2
move (second bout of quantitative easing) is also fuelling the
general aversion away from paper currencies and into hard
assets," said MF Global analyst Ed Meir.
In broader markets, U.S. September wholesale inventories,
which fell short of estimates, did little to impact overall
sentiment.
Chinese trade data due Wednesday may have a bigger impact,
however, both on currencies and because China is the world's top
consumer of base metals.
October exports are seen moderating to 23.5 percent from
25.1 percent the month before, according to a Reuters analyst
poll, while imports are seen at 28.5 percent from 24.1 percent.

CHILE STRIKE
Some support came from a strike by union workers at Chile's
Collahuasi, the world's No. 3 copper mine, which headed into a
fifth day with no sign of resolution.
The mine's owners said deliveries had not been affected, but
industry sources said that after a week the strike would start
to take effect. [ID:nN09276450] [ID:nN05111737]
Meanwhile, the chief executive of miner Antofagasta Minerals
(ANTO.L: Quote) said he had been surprised by higher demand for copper
in Europe amid a slow global economic recovery.
"Asia is doing well, with substantial demand, and add to
that Europe ... which has surprised almost all of us with its
demand," Awad said. [ID:nN09276383]
Worries about copper supplies in the near term pushed the
metal into a $5 a tonne backwardation -- a premium for cash
material over the three-month contract MCU0-3 -- compared with
a discount of $20 a tonne in late October.
Base metal supplies are also being closely monitored due to
two positions controlling more than 30 percent of copper cash
warrants on LME stocks. Two positions also control more than 40
percent of tin cash warrants.
Among other metals, aluminium CMAL3 ended at $2,469 a
tonne versus $2,429. The metal is not far from two-year highs
above $2,494 from April. LME stocks for the metal, used in
transport and packaging, shed 10,475 tonnes to 4.27 million
tonnes.
Stainless steel-making ingredient nickel CMNI3 finished at
$24,620 from $24,125, while battery material lead CMPB3 was at
$2,609 from $2,504.
China's State Reserves Bureau (SRB) will sell 34,500 tonnes
of refined lead ingots on Nov. 16, the country's top planning
body, the National Development and Reform Commission, said.
The auction will be the third sale of base metals reserves
in as many weeks, after the government offered 96,000 tonnes of
aluminium and 50,000 tonnes of zinc for sale. [ID:nBJI002441]
[ID:nBIG9ME60C]
Zinc CMZN3 wound up at $2,580 a tonne, up over 4 percent
from $2,479 and tin CMSN3 was seen at $27,350 from $26,595.
Tin, which is used for soldering in the electronic industry,
has been supported in recent months by expectations of a growing
deficit in the market because of falling supplies from
Indonesia. [ID:nJAK90472]
"Strong fundamentals (and) limited stock," said David
Wilson, an analyst at Societe Generale on tin.
Metal Prices at 1716 GMT
Comex copper in cents/lb, LME prices in $/T and SHFE prices in
yuan/T
Metal Last Change Pct Move End 2009 Ytd Pct
move
COMEX Cu 404.15 8.50 +2.15 334.65 20.77
LME Alum 2469.00 17.00 +0.69 2230.00 10.72
LME Cu 8858.00 198.00 +2.29 7375.00 20.11
LME Lead 2609.00 105.00 +4.19 2432.00 7.28
LME Nickel 24600.00 475.00 +1.97 18525.00 32.79
LME Tin 27345.00 905.00 +3.42 16950.00 61.33
LME Zinc 2578.00 99.00 +3.99 2560.00 0.70
SHFE Alu 16905.00 60.00 +0.36 17160.00 -1.49
SHFE Cu* 67670.00 1290.00 +1.94 59900.00 12.97
SHFE Zin 20610.00 305.00 +1.50 21195.00 -2.76
** Benchmark month for COMEX copper
* 3rd contract month for SHFE AL, CU and ZN
SHFE ZN began trading on 26/3/07
(Additional reporting by Melanie Burton, editing by Anthony
Barker and Jane Baird)

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