Most of China's copper futures contracts closed up on Friday alongside an overnight rise on the London Metal Exchange, though trade was sluggish as investors awaited clearer direction from the LME.
Shanghai's most active contract, January, added 100 yuan to 26,900 yuan ($3,250) a tonne, while most other contracts on the exchange ended up between 20 yuan and 190 yuan.
Combined volume was moderate at 137,672 lots, though that was up from 117,952 lots on Thursday.
"Overnight LME gains gave Shanghai sentiment a boost, but many cautious investors are keeping to the sidelines as the LME trade did not show a clear trend," he said.
LME three-month copper ended Thursday's kerb close at $2,825 a tonne, up $25 from the previous session, but in Friday's Asian trade, it barely moved to trade at $2,822/32 by 0345 GMT.
Shanghai aluminium contracts inched down 20 to 70 yuan in thin volume of 23,792 lots.
Spot copper in Shanghai jumped 360 yuan to move in a range of 29,320 to 29,500 yuan a tonne on Friday, outperforming futures due to a tight spot supply on the domestic market, traders said.
The price ratio between Shanghai's January copper contract and the LME three-months stood at 9.53 at the close of the Shanghai market at 0700 GMT, down a tad from 9.56 a day earlier.
Traders say investors tend to buy LME copper when that ratio exceeds 10.3, which typically includes import and shipping fees.
If the ratio is lower than 10.3, that indicates LME prices that are higher than costs of importing the metal, opening up the reverse of that arbitrage opportunity.
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