Copper surged to a new record high in London on Monday, as investors brushed aside escalating tensions in Egypt, and instead, focused on robust demand prospects in the United States and China - the world's top two consumers. COMEX copper for March delivery shot up by 8.55 cents, or 2 percent, to settle at $4.4585 per lb on the New York Mercantile Exchange, just 4 cents away from its own record high.
In other metals, aluminium rose to near three-week highs of $2,521 a tonne, before ending up $47 at $2,519. Tin jumped $500 to end at $30,100 a tonne. Prices are up more than 10 percent so far, adding to last year's nearly 60 percent rally. Behind the rise has been constraints on output in Indonesia. Lead rose $73 to close at $2,510 a tonne.