Lead rose to a one-month high in London after vehicle sales surged 84 percent in China, the world’s largest consumer of lead used in car batteries. Zinc advanced to its highest since July 2008. Passenger-car sales in September climbed to about 1 million units, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said today. Lead has more than doubled this year, exceeding gains of the other main industrial metals on the London Metal Exchange. “Lead’s up very strongly on the Chinese car sales,” said David Thurtell, an analyst at Citigroup Inc. in London. Lead for delivery in three months jumped as much as $56, or 2.4 percent, to $2,351 a metric ton, the highest since Sept. 10, and was at $2,344 a ton at 9:39 a.m. local time on the LME. Batteries make up 71 percent of lead demand, according to a Calyon presentation by analyst Robin Bhar yesterday. Prices will average $2,225 a ton in the fourth quarter and $2,400 a ton in the first quarter, Calyon said. They averaged $1,942.33 a ton in the third quarter. Copper stockpiles rose for a second day, to 347,950 tons, the highest since May 19, according to LME data. Copper for delivery in three months fell 0.1 percent to $6,271 a ton. Futures for December delivery were little changed at $2.857 a pound on the New York Mercantile Exchange’s Comex division. Among other LME metals for three-month delivery, aluminum rose 0.2 percent to $1,950 a ton. China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.4 percent, “usually a good indicator for metals,” said Jorge Vazquez, an analyst at Harbor Intelligence. Zinc climbed as much as 0.6 percent to $2,108 a ton, tin gained 0.5 percent to $14,450 a ton and nickel declined 0.3 percent to $18,775 a ton.

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