Brent price fell on Wednesday and in intraday trading even dipped below 111 USD per barrel (USD/bbl) as the IEA said that global oil consumption dropped y/y in the last quarter of 2011 and revised its outlook for the demand growth in 2012. Regarding the sanctions against Iran, China’s Prime Minister Wen Jiabao defended the stance of his country to maintain oil trade with Iran. Nevertheless, he also warned Iran that it should not strive to develop a nuclear weapon. Today, Brent crude erases previous losses and currently is hovering at 111.50 USD/bbl level. Base Metals Base metals complex took advantage of rising global risk appetite on Wednesday and the most of the metals posted some gains. LME benchmark copper (3M) extends previous rally (price has been rising in 8th straight session today) and surges to almost 8400 USD per ton. Meanwhile, stocks of the metal at LME dropped to about 353 thousand tonnes. Nevertheless, given the recent rally, LME – SHFE arb window has been open for more than week now, indicating that some metal might be attracted back to Asian LME warehouses in months ahead.