Japan Official Copper and Zinc Up, Lead Down

Nippon Mining & Metals announced on Monday the firm set the official copper ingot price at 870,000 yen per tonne for domestic shipment in April. The price was unchanged from the end of March but became higher by 70,000 yen than the monthly average in March of 800,000 yen.Japanese official copper price was expected to down by 20,000-30,000 yen per tonne on the first revision in April from the previous revision on March 27 when the official price was raised by 30,000 yen to 870,000 yen per tonne. After March 27, offshore copper markets plunged down due to profit taking selling and foreign exchange rate of yen became stronger against US dollar.However, overseas copper markets rebounded at weekend. Copper spot price at New York Commodity Exchange jumped up by US 6.70 cents per pound, which equaled to US$ 147.7 per tonne, to US 314.35 cents on Friday from Thursday. Copper settlement price at London Metal Exchange upped by US$ 225 to US$ 6,940 per tonne on Friday from previous day. LME copper settlement on Friday was yearly highest in 2007 and recovered to the level as high as early December 2006. Mitsui Mining & Smelting announced on Monday the firm revised the official zinc ingot price to 430,000 yen per tonne for domestic shipment in April, which upped by 5,000 yen from the end of March. The official price became to the highest level since March 12 thanks to the steadiness of overseas zinc market. Mitsubishi Materials announced on Monday the firm decreased the official lead ingot price by 4,000 yen to 269,000 yen per tonne for domestic shipment in April compared with the end of March. The official price was revised down for the first time since March 7 due to weak zinc market at overseas.