Base metals remained subdued and ended the session in the negative territory. The rise in dollar against the Euro made base metals expensive for investors and the U. S. housing data too could not inspire an upside in base metals.

Copper and Nickel were down by Rs. 1.55 and Rs. 7.2 respectively on MCX. COMEX Copper declined by almost $80 on LME.

U. S. housing data on Wednesday sent mixed signals to investors. The number of unsold homes rose last month, stoking worries that prices have further to fall.

The pace of sales of existing homes in the United States rose 2.9 percent to an annual rate of 4.68 million units in April, but the inventory of existing homes for sale rose 8.8 percent to 3.97 million - The National Association of Realtors.

Copper inventories on the London Metal Exchange on Wednesday fell 7, 300 tonnes to 319,275 tonnes. BHP Billiton voiced uncertainty about the sustainability of Chinese buying.

We expect base metals to trade sideways to up during the day as the release of the U. S. data can result in fresh buying in base metals. We recommend buying in Nickel at dips. One can sell copper as it looks weak for the day.

Copper gave a high above 225 yesterday after a long time. However, profit booking pulled down the copper prices during the day. For today, copper can take support at
220 levels and move up as MACD indicates a northward movement. However, if copper fails to maintain the 220 levels, selling pressure can take copper to 215-218 levels. These levels can be looked as buying opportunities in copper.

Nickel Prices saw a sharp upside rally during the first half of yesterday’s session, taking prices to 658 levels. However, prices took resistance at the earlier highs and came down at the closing. Nickel can take support at the 622 levels and move up during the day as the RSI is maintaining above the MA and +DI is showing uptrend. Thus, one can reenter at the lower levels between 622-25, targeting 650 levels on upside.