India copper futures reversed early losses on Wednesday evening as U.S. stocks pointed to a higher open, reviving hopes of an economic recovery and thereby demand for the industrial metal, analysts said. However, a rise in stockpiles in copper limited the upside. Stocks in London Metal Exchange (LME) rose by 2,300 tonnes to 504,200 tonnes on Wednesday. The benchmark April contract MCCJ9 was 0.50 percent higher at 221.50 rupees per kg at 6:45 p.m., after hitting a low of 217.4 rupees. U.S. stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wednesday after news of government aid for life insurers and a merger among homebuilders spurred optimism and offset a quarterly loss from Alcoa. See [ID:nN08513288] "One of the major reason for higher movement is recovering equity markets," Aurobinda Prasad, deputy manager-research with Karvy Comtrade in Hyderabad. "We are holding a positive bias in copper due to recovering equity markets," said Prasad. "We expect copper to be at 230 rupees by early next week with support pegged at 215 (rupees)." "The uptrend is still intact and it would keep on making new highs," said Amrut Deshmukh, an analyst with Way 2 Wealth Securities in Mumbai. "If a pattern breakout takes place above 222 (rupees), then it can take prices to 227 (rupees)," added Deshmukh. April zinc MZIJ9 was 0.45 percent higher at 67.30 rupees per kg, while lead for April delivery MLDJ9 was 0.08 percent lower at 66.40 rupees per kg.

Source