Industrial metals to benefit from China's positive outlook

Restocking and improved demand for industrial base metals is likely, said TD Securities.

“With China growing at 7.5%, the U.S. showing more and more positive data points and Europe benefitting from more ECB (European Central Bank) monetary accommodation, industrial metals demand should tighten their supply/fundamentals across the base metals complex into 2014,” said TDS says.

Chinese inventories of products containing metals have been declining, and they may need to be replenished should industrial uptake speed up. “It is quite likely that manufacturers are light on inventories owing to recent uncertainty related to Chinese growth,” TDS added.

“We are also hearing the same thing from Western world manufacturers. Metals with supply constraints, like zinc, are likely to perform best. While the scandal surrounding copper in China may have some negative impact, it is small relative to the market and should not skew the positive impact of global supply/demand physical fundamentals and cost structures,” TDS added.