Shanghai copper futures climbed in sluggish trade on Monday on stronger sentiment, and the metals market has room for more gains in the near term, traders said.
Most active October closed 100 yuan higher to end at 25,450 yuan ($3,074) a tonne, while other futures gained between 10 and 240 yuan. Combined volume expanded, but remained thin at 133,918 lots from Friday's 118,320 lots.
On the London Metal Exchange three-month copper traded at $2,672/$2,680 on Monday's Asian trade, buoyed by strong Chinese buying and gains in Shanghai.
The London contract had fallen $27 to end the kerb at $2,650 on Friday. Spot copper in Shanghai rose to move in a range of 27,000-27,290 yuan per tonne on Monday.
Shanghai aluminium contracts bucked the trend to fall by between 80 and 130 yuan, with volume shrinking to 17,218 lots from Friday's 26,962 lots.
LME three-month aluminium was trading at $1,726/$1,730 on Monday's Asian trade, versus on Friday's close of $1,727.