Shanghai copper rose strongly on Tuesday and may climb further as market conditions strengthen and sentiment improves, traders said.
The most active September contract rose 450 yuan to 28,950 yuan ($3,498), while other contracts closed up between 280 and 530 yuan.
Volume more than doubled to an active 211,456 lots from Monday's 103,504 lots. "The rises that immediately followed a correction from mid-March were not convincing," said a trader in Shanghai.
"The market was in the doldrums, but the fact that it failed to push lower in the past week is now serving to boost investor confidence," he added.
LME three-month copper was quoted at $2,982/$2,986 a tonne on Tuesday's Asian trade, up from Monday's kerb close of $2,971.
The contract is still off 8-1/2 year highs of $3,055 a tonne hit in March. Spot copper rose between 150 and 160 yuan to move in a range of between 28,570 yuan and 28,630 yuan per tonne on Tuesday, in line with the futures trend.
Shanghai aluminium futures also ended up between 30 and 80 yuan on Tuesday, with volume dwindling to 37,018 lots from Monday's 55,368 lots.
LME three-month aluminium was trading at $1,679/$1,682 a tonne in Asian trade on Tuesday, marginally up from Monday's London kerb close of $1,678.