Copper rises on US stimulus cheer, Chile supply threat

HANOI: Copper prices rose on Thursday as the United States moved to pass a $1.9-trillion stimulus bill, while a potential strike in top producer Chile threatened supply.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange rose 0.6% to $8,914 a tonne by 0200 GMT, while the most-traded May copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange edged up 0.5% to 66,000 yuan ($10,156.03) a tonne.

The US House of Representatives approved the bill on Wednesday, one of the largest economic stimulus measures in American history, in an effort to recover the world's biggest economy.

Copper is often used as a gauge of global economic health.

Meanwhile, workers at Antofagasta's Los Pelambres copper mine in Chile voted to reject the company's latest contract offer, paving the way for a strike and threatening the already fragile mine supply of the metal.