Shanghai base metals were mostly higher on Wednesday morning as investors waited for the release of China's latest benchmark lending rate. Meanwhile, their counterparts on the LME also rose for the most part. Shanghai base metals mostly advanced in overnight trading. Zinc advanced 0.1%, tin edged up 0.9%, lead climbed 0.74% and nickel increased 0.9%, while copper and aluminium underperformed with 0.17% and 0.78% losses respectively. The LME complex performed similarly on Tuesday. Copper added 0.14%, aluminium rose 0.61%, lead increased 0.2%, zinc went up 0.3% and nickel strengthened 0.25%, while tin fell 0.47%. Yellen, the nominee of the US Treasury Secretary, said at the confirmation hearing of the Senate that helping the unemployed and small businesses would maximize the effectiveness of the bailout funds, and urged legislators to take "big moves" to stimulate the economy. Market risk sentiment improved, US dollar index fell, and copper futures gained upward momentum. However, the COVID-19 is raging. At present, the cumulative number of deaths in COVID-19 in the US exceeds 400,000. Germany tightened the restrictions on pandemic prevention and extended the blockade until mid-February. The single-day new deaths in Britain are the highest since the outbreak of the pandemic. Heilongjiang, Hebei and other regions in China are classified as high-risk areas. The uncertainty brought by the pandemic to the economy makes it difficult to cool down the cautious sentiment of the market. On the spot side, social inventories continues to decline. It is expected that the premium will maintain the price-holding sentiment in the near term.