The support for zinc appears to be around $1.45 - $1.50 from may...

The support for zinc appears to be around $1.45 - $1.50 from may to sept 06 it traded around that price.
i didnt want it to test that support but it may do. Short sellers have control over it right now and they can push it down.
The stock piles were 160,000 tonnes late sept when it finished its time at the 1.50's and headed up to the new $2 levels.
I am no TA but i would assume that if they were prepared to buy zinc in that level for most of 2006 with similar predicted shortfalls and the US housing market bottoming (ie no recession) and interest rates on hold (stimulate buying again) then we would expect that level of $1.50 to hold.
At some level the chinese will resume buying because they can sell it on their own markets for more. It becomes the reverse of the arbitrage that we saw leading up to xmas.
If you can buy for $3400 a tonne and sell for $4000 a tonne, why wouldnt you do it?

cheers andrewe