London Metal Exchange base metals jumped on fund buying late Thursday, but profit-taking and weekend position squaring may yet send prices lower, said traders.

Three-month copper jumped to a fresh 2007 high of $6,784.50 a metric ton, before retreating to a PM kerb of $6,720/ton.

Fund buying late Thursday helped copper and the rest of the base metals complex extend its recent strength, said traders. Moreover, the LME complex got a boost from strength in oil and gold prices, said an LME trader in London.

Copper was well supported early Thursday on gains made after dovish comments by the U.S. Federal Reserve on the state of the economy boosted sentiment.

News from China that the country's copper concentrate imports rose 34.9% on year in February to 392,366 tons, while refined copper imports in February more than doubled to 148,679 tons, also provided strong underlying price support.

Meanwhile, three-month nickel retraced its recent losses, pushing up 3% to a PM kerb of $45,150/ton from Wednesday on short-covering.

News of possible supply-side disruptions to nickel stocks from the Western Australian port of Esperance also added to positive market sentiment.

Esperance is the largest nickel-concentrates exporting port in the southern hemisphere and serves Australia's principal nickel-mining region. It shipped 194,136 metric tons of nickel concentrate in 2006.

Traders also pointed to news overnight that Chinese demand for nickel may rise 20% in 2007 as adding to upside price momentum.

In other metals, three-month zinc posted strong gains, rising over 2% to a PM kerb of $3,200/ton from Wednesday. However, traders noted there was no fundamentals news to drive this rise, but was instead the result of programmed technical activity.

In other news, the LME said Thursday it has appointed a subcommittee to design and execute a mechanism for the allocation of new shares in the exchange.

The subcommittee is expected to take four months to design and execute the mechanism, which will allow for the allotment of up to 200,000 B shares in the LME.