Copper rises over Chinese economic data

London copper rose a per cent and Shanghai bounced off an early low on hope that strong Chinese demand could cut stocks, but concerns remain the central bank could act again to cool inflation pressures in the economy. Shanghai's benchmark third-month copper futures contract ended up 0.6 per cent at 60,880 yuan a tonne. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange gained $75 to $7,505 a tonne, reversing a 0.4-per cent decline last week.

London's copper stocks rose by 1,500 tonnes on Friday to 525,475 tonnes, the highest since early March in 2009 and more than double the level in July.

China is scheduled to release industrial output and detailed trade data on Thursday that is expected to show the economy gathered strength in December. But the market is also prepped for a report on December consumer prices this week that is expected to show the sharpest gain in the index since February 2008.

China's central bank announced a surprise increase in bank cash reserve ratios last week, a move that reduces the amount of money available for lending, as part of an effort to tame inflation.

But many copper traders say the impact has been muted.

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