Three months copper is yet to regain from previous week's losses but ruled firmly in the $1,460-85 range. Nickel was gaining ground this week and ruled in the range of $4,700-10. Aluminium, which is in high supplies, too was rising at around $1,218 per tonne.

Zinc surged through the $1,000 per tonne barrier inspired by copper and was hovering around $1,010-30 per tonne range. "Zinc is in demand as no new stock rises have been announced but generally good sound technical buying was seen all-around," says Sharad Parikh, president of the Bombay Metal Exchange. He said the domestic metal markets were calm and steady. Most of the metals either gained or held steady last week, he noted. Copper's gains were in the range of Rs 50-100 a quintal while some copper products were ruling steady.

Parikh mentioned the case of nickel, which had been gainingfor the last few weeks, both in local and LME markets. "Reports of closure by some units and no new stock rises have been influencing prices," he said. An official with one of the leading metal producers in the country said he expected no major changes in prices till the budget. "True, and I believe that everybody, traders and producers are keenly watching the budget," Parikh added.

Copper's persistent recovery may have provided good news to some. The red metal had collapsed to its recent 11 and half year lows amid heavy selling in late December. Lead was another causality crashing alongwith copper, touching the recent low of $487 before recovering to the $502 per tonne levels. Hindustan copper and Hindustan Zinc had unchanged metal prices for some time now. "There has not been much change in prices or production levels by any major producers," Parikh reminded. HCL has hiked prices of copper wire rods, wire bards and cathodes by Rs 2000 each while HZL upped the prices of slabs by Rs 1,500 per tonne inDecember last year. Both copper and zinc were firm on continuing industrial demand. However, most of the analysts expect the metal to rule steady for some time notwithstanding the threat from huge stocks built up some of the metals.