supply woes support copper amid u.s. recession

Definetely looking for support today...... demand is there....we need traders and manipulators to pull back !

LONDON, March 11 (Reuters) - Industrial metals were steady on Tuesday and prices could still go higher on supply worries, despite wider global concerns about a U.S. recession and slower demand growth in China, analysts and traders said.

"We see some consumer buying on the little pullback, only small amounts as consumers live hand-to-mouth at the moment," a London Metal Exchange trader said.

Copper for delivery in three months was flat at $8,310/8,325 at 0823 GMT. In the previous session the metal closed 2.8 percent lower as U.S. recession fears and speculation that China demand might slow permeated the markets.

"Firmer equities this morning might lend some support, but overall the financial world is still looking a bit vulnerable to sell-offs -- it dampens metals prices," the trader said.

Weak data from the United States and slowing Chinese copper imports dented sentiment towards metals, until now seen as a sure-fire bet against inflation and turbulent equity markets.

European shares ticked up with the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares up 0.16 percent to 1256.35 points.

Analysts said the declines in metals, which have seen London copper fall $500 or nearly 6 percent since hitting an all-time high of $8,820 a tonne late last week, might just be a temporary setback and more records could be just around the corner.

"It is too early to suggest that prices have peaked for this year however, especially as a number of bullish factors, in particular the potential for further power problems, continue to lurk in the background," a Standard Bank report said.

The trader said copper could still go to $9,000 per tonne.

Chile, the world's largest producer of copper, concerned by a drought that is affecting hydropower production, has tendered to buy over 1 million tonnes of clean gas oil for June to October, up from 520,000 bought for March to May.

Weather was also causing some disruption. Australia's Kagara Ltd said it would lose about 3,000 tonnes or 10 percent of its 2008 copper production after heavy rain cut access to a concentrator on March 3. The road will remain closed for the rest of the month.

Power problems, this time in South Africa, have also helped boost aluminium prices to within a couple of hundred dollars of all-time highs, threatening three smelters run by BHP Billiton (nyse: BBL - news - people ) in South Africa and Mozambique.

But BHP Billiton's two South African aluminium smelters are unlikely to shut soon to cut the country's power demand and stabilise the grid, power and coal sources said.

Aluminium fell $3 to $3,135/3,140. The lightweight metal hit a record $3,310 in May 2006. In industry news, London-listed Chilean miner Antofagasta posted a 3.8 percent fall in annual pretax profit on Tuesday, slightly below market forecasts, and cautioned that costs were expected to rise this year.