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Volumes were light and premarket trade on the London Metal Exchange was described by one trader with an LME ring member as 'pretty dead' Wednesday. After a chunky net inflow of 6,150 mt of copper stocks into LME-approved warehouses, largely in the form of cathode into Singapore, three-months copper traded on the LME had eased $40 from its Tuesday close, bid at $7,910/mt by 0907 GMT. 'Copper is drifting, as all the base metals got a sell off Tuesday,' said the trader, adding that many in the market had taken profits causing a dip in prices. 'This puts prices back in the triangle and back firmly in consolidation mode. Given the volatility of the market, having tested the upside, we should now expect a swing down [for copper] to test the lower levels of support around $7,600/mt,' said William Adams, metals analyst at BaseMetals.com. By contrast, aluminium had firmed $35 to $2,735/mt, and the trader warned that aluminium needed to hold above $2,680/mt.

'A lot of the margins have now increased, and this will have had some affect on the longs,' the UK-based trader said, referring to recent announcements by the London Clearing House of further increases to its margin requirements for the LME base metals, but he added: 'The base metals still look strong...this is probably just a dip.' Lead was bid off $7 from its previous close by 0907 GMT Wednesday at $1,090/mt, while tin lost $250, bid down at $7,950/mt. Although three-months zinc had eased $65, bid at $3,660/mt, the trader said the metal was still doing exceptionally well. 'Zinc's fundamentals are strong...there's not much concentrate material around...people are buying on the dips,' he added. Meanwhile, t"