Shanghai copper rose to near 15-month highs on Thursday and London futures hovered close to a 14-month peak hit the previous day, aided by a weaker dollar and upbeat economic data. With the international impact of Dubai's shock debt announcement last week seemingly largely contained to the emirate and a handful of large creditors, investors were free to focus on the eighth straight decline in US job losses in November, and a bullish outlook by the Federal Reserve.
"The Dubai problem was not as bad as people had expected and that's a relief for the market," said Ciaran Moore at Halifax Investments in Sydney. Shanghai's benchmark third-month copper rose 370 yuan to 55,680 yuan ($8,158) a tonne at the close, after rising as high as 55,850 yuan, its best level since September 12, 2008.