Bareksa.com - Nickel prices steadied on Friday, finding their feet after a six percent fall partly eroded this year's stellar rally, while copper prices eyed their biggest weekly gain in nearly two months on improving demand.

Fundamentals

Nickel prices on the London Metal Exchange (LME) traded little changed at $18,770 a tonne on Friday, having slumped more than 6 percent on Thursday, erasing much of May's spectacular gains. Nickel is still up 35 percent this year.

LME copper also traded flat at $6,889 a tonne by 0132 GMT, from the previous session, but a stone's throw from Wednesday's two month peaks of $6,940 a tonne. LME copper was on track for a weekly gain of around 2 percent, its biggest weekly advance in seven weeks.

The most-traded August copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange was flat at 48,510 yuan ($7,800) a tonne but not far from two-month highs touched the previous session at 48,750 yuan a tonne.

Business confidence in China cooled in the first quarter compared to the same time last year, a central bank survey showed on Friday, another indication that the Chinese economy is faltering.

New applications for U.S. unemployment benefits hit a seven-year low last week while consumer prices recorded their largest increase in 10 months in April, pointing to a firming economy.

<span 1.6em;"="">The euro zone economy grew much less than expected at the start of the year and inflation remained locked in the 'danger zone' below 1 percent, increasing pressure on the European Central Bank to ease monetary policy at its next meeting in June.

China's refined copper production rose 6.57 percent in the first two months of 2014 compared to year ago, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed.

For the top stories in metals and other news, click , or

Market news

Asian shares were under pressure on Friday morning, with Japanese stocks skidding as the yen rose against the dollar, which has struggled in recent days on the back of lower U.S. Treasury yields. (Source : Reuters)