The most-active September copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange ticked down 0.6 percent on Monday to close at 71,470 yuan per tonne. "I think copper is still strong although there is a small technical correction today as the market digests prices hitting recent highs. In the longer term, I see copper prices going higher as demand continues to be stable," Jinhui Futures deputy general manager Lin Yu Hui.
Higher monthly imports by China also helped keep a floor under copper prices. Copper imports into China snapped two months of decline to rise 9.9 percent from May to 280,009 tonnes in June, but volumes were still down 14.7 percent from a year ago.