Spot Palladium, Platinum Hit Multi-month Highs

Jan. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Metal prices may average 32 percent higher this year because of strengthening industrial production, driven by growth in China, said Morgan Stanley.
&quot;The economic outlook has improved materially in response to unprecedented fiscal and monetary stimulus initiated in 2009,&quot;analysts led by Melbourne-based Peter Richardson said today in a report, citing copper as its preferred metal.
Morgan Stanley raised its 2010 aluminum price forecast 16 percent to 98 cents a pound, copper by 7 percent to $3.18 a pound and zinc 21 percent to 97 cents a pound. JFE Holdings Inc., Alcoa Inc., Xstrata Plc, Vale SA and Vedanta Resources Plc are the broker&rsquo;s top stock picks.
&quot;We expect the strong and broad gains in base metal prices in 2009 to be sustained in 2010 after a period of excess importation in China, with the prospect of a weighted average increase in U.S. dollar prices of 32.4 percent,&quot;Morgan Stanley said. &quot;However, in contrast to 2009, we expect price appreciation to be growth-driven rather than liquidity driven.&quot;
The analysts also raised forecasts for bulk commodities driven by increasing global steel production and power consumption. They boosted estimates for Asia iron ore contract prices by 6 percent to $69.60 a metric ton, coking coal by 9 percent to $175 a ton and thermal coal by 6 percent to $85 a ton.
Metal prices in London gained 98 percent last year, rebounding from a 49 percent decline the previous year. 
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