Base Metals floated higher with the equities markets and mostly ended higher than their previous close. Three month LME Copper rose by $150 to end at $4470 and the three month LME Nickel rose by $475 to finish the day at $1150.

Copper futures edged higher on Fridaytracking a fall in LME inventories. Copper stocks on the LME fell by 10,925 tonnes to 429,500 tonnes. Some traders are of the view that China's State Reserves Bureau (SRB), which bought 350,000 tonnes of copper cathode in the first quarter of 2009, could sell around 50,000 tonnes of copper to cash in on recent rallies.

Gold rallied on Friday after China said it has added over 450 tonnes to its foreign reserves over the past six years. The reserves have risen to 1054 tonnes from 600 tonnes in 2003. This places China at the fifth spot amongst the gold-holding nations. Analysts expect China to buy more gold to match its holding with other central banks. This creates a very positive sentiment towards gold.

Today is Akshaya Tritya festival, an auspicious time for gold buying in India which continues to lend support.

Indian Stock Markets opened marginally higher, but later found support on back on strong global cues. The benchmark indices closed on a strong note for the second day led by telecom, capital goods, auto and bank stocks. The Sensex closed 194 points or 1.74% higher at 11,329 and the Nifty rose 1.67% or 57 points to settle at 3,480. The broader indices - CNX Midcap was up 1.68% and BSE Smallcap Index closed 68 points or 1.71%.

U. S. crude futures were steady under $50 a barrel, after finishing up the previous day as a fall in the dollar and stock market gains boosted oil prices.

Natural Gas with almost more than double built as compared to last week’s data and hit lower freeze on MCX and price remain under pressure.

Base metals witnessed correction during yesterday session where most of them fell by 3-4%. Weak housing numbers coupled with rising jobless claims raised concerns about demand for non ferrous metals.

Japan's output of rolled copper products fell by a record 60 percent from a year earlier in March, data showed on Friday, illustrating the sharp collapse in industrial demand from the world's fourth-biggest consumer. Japan's output of rolled copper products fell to 32,338 tonnes in March on a seasonally adjusted basis, down 60.2 percent from a year earlier, preliminary industry data from the Japan Copper and Brass Association showed.

Gold inched up on Friday, keeping gains above $900 after rallying to a three-week high the previous day, while holdings of the world's biggest gold-backed exchange-traded fund dipped further away from a record high. Prices were supported as physical demand from India, the world's largest consumer, has picked up ahead of the Akshaya Tritya festival on April 27, an auspicious time for gold buying.

Holdings at the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the SPDR Gold Trust dropped to 1,104.45 tonnes as of April 23, down 1.53 tonnes or