Nickel led base metals higher in London, rebounding after two weeks of losses prompted by concerns over financial turmoil in China, the biggest consumer of commodities. Metals benefited from gains in equity markets and the currency in the Asian country on Monday. The higher Chinese stock market and the sharp appreciation of the Chinese currency against the US dollar brought a little bit of good mood into the bearish metals market, Richard Fu, head of Asia & Pacific at Amalgamated Metal Trading in London, said by email.

Nickel rose 2% to $8560 a metric ton by 11:14am on the London Metal Exchange. Copper climbed 1.2% to $4384 a ton, while lead and zinc also gained. Aluminum and tin fell. China’s stocks rose after a recovery in home prices spread to more cities and speculation grew equities were oversold after the benchmark index entered a bear market last week. The yuan traded offshore strengthened the most in a week as China stepped up efforts to curb bearish bets on the exchange rate. The nation is the biggest consumer of raw materials and a measure of returns on commodities last week slid to the lowest level in at least 25 years. Production cuts are needed, Goldman Sachs Group said in a report on January 15.

The main focus for metal traders this week will be China’s gross domestic product released on Tuesday, according to Commerzbank and Avatrade. The country is expected to report annual growth of 6.9%, the slowest pace since 1990. The persistent downward trend for industrial base metal is still in play and the downward skew is very much dependent on the stagnant growth in China, Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at Avatrade in Dublin, said by email. The 13-member FTSE 350 Mining Index of industrial shares rose 0.9%, while the Bloomberg World Mining Index declined by 0.3%.

• [Editor:Juan]