Base metals witnessed a sharp decline after a week¡¦s rally as investors paused to assess whether recent gains were justified and sided with caution ahead of a much anticipated U. S. employment data on Friday.

Copper settled down for the first time in six sessions on Thursday. Nickel and Lead lost about 5 percent each on LME while the losses on MCX were less severe owing to the weakness in dollar.

Global cooper prices are likely to average around $2 a pound this year, Chile's Mining Minister Santiago Gonzalez said on Thursday, signaling greater stability in the value of the red metal after it fell from record highs last year.

Equinox Minerals has cut its 2009 copper production forecast and raised its cost expectations due to problems starting up its Lumwana mine in Zambia, the company said on Thursday. The mine, which opened in December and reached commercial production in April, should produce 110,000-120,000 tonnes of copper in concentrate this year.

China's imports of unwrought copper and semi-finished copper products may fall from June's record on high London Metal Exchange prices and weaker summer demand, but speculative buying is the biggest swing factor in inflows.

Base metals are expected to trade sideways to down for the day. We have seen sharp run up in base metals prices and we
expect prices to just cool off further during the day.