Copper and zinc rose to the highest in five months as industrial metals rallied on speculation demand will rebound and as equities recovered worldwide. Copper gained for a fifth day, the longest run since February 2008, as governments’ efforts to revive growth pushed the MSCI World Index of global equities to its highest in almost two months. “It looks like an equity-driven rally,” Marc Elliott, an analyst at London-based Fairfax IS, said by phone. “The equity markets are up quite strongly and if they continue to go that way that will hold the prices up.” Copper for three-month delivery on the London Metal Exchange climbed as much as 3.7 percent to $4,459 a metric ton, the highest since Oct. 30. It traded at $4,380 by 11:23 a.m. “On the charts the metals look strong,” William Adams, an analyst at Basemetals.com, wrote in a note. “Joining the breakouts in copper and zinc, aluminum has cleared $1,475, while lead, nickel and tin are running up to tackle resistance.” Three-month zinc rose as much as 2.2 percent to $1,400 a ton, the highest since Oct. 15, before trading at $1,390. Nickel jumped $120, or 1.1 percent, to $11,020 a ton. Industrial metals’ gain was gold’s loss. The precious metal in London dropped to its lowest in more than two months to $874.08 an ounce as investors’ risk appetite increased. “The weakness in gold suggests investors are taking profits and are lightening up on safe-haven investments,” Adams said. “And with equities pushing higher, it does all suggest confidence is on the rise.” ‘Premature’ Rally Copper inventories tallied by the LME rose 0.5 percent to 504,825 tons today, with metal earmarked for delivery almost doubling to 50,525 tons or 10 percent of total stockpiles. Stockpiles monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange dropped for a fourth week to 22,908 tons last week, the lowest since Jan. 22, according to exchange data. The rally in copper prices, up 42 percent since the beginning of the year, was “premature,” Eugen Weinberg, an analyst at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt, said in a report. Hedge-fund managers and other large speculators increased their net-short position, betting on falling prices, in New York copper futures in the week ended March 31, according to U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data. Diego Hernandez, president of BHP Billiton Ltd.’s base- metals division, said April 2 that tight scrap supplies, feeding about 40 percent of the total raw materials to the world’s copper smelters, would keep copper prices at $1.60 a pound ($3,527 a ton). Aluminum for three-month delivery rose 1.8 percent to $1,507. Lead gained 1 percent to $1,338 a ton. Tin fell 1.4 percent to $10,925 a ton.

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