** Southern Copper rises 4.6 pct after Citigroup double upgrades to “buy” from “sell” and calls SCCO its top pick among copper miners given a “relatively cleaner story”
** Freeport-McMoRan jumps 6.3 pct and Grupo Mexico gains 2.6 on Citi upgrade to “buy” from “neutral”
** Citi’s global commodity team is bullish on copper, noting that exchange inventory is at 10-year lows and Chinese weakness appear to be turning
** First Quantum up 4 pct and Chilean copper miner Antofagasta up 0.8 pct; Citi retains “buy” ratings on two stocks
** Citi says copper is highly levered to macro sentiment and copper equities offer significant upside potential after their 30-40 pct drop y-o-y
** Goldman Sachs also begins Southern Copper coverage with a “buy,” theflyonthewall reports
** Last week Morgan Stanley upgraded Freeport, while GS said European miners were attractively positioned (Reporting by Savio D’Souza)
