LONDON: Copper rose on Friday as industrial data from top consumer China pointed to a steady economic recovery, helping fuel the first weekly gain in about a month. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange, had added 1.9% to $6,371.50 a tonne by 1600 GMT and was heading for a 1% weekly increase, the first weekly gain since mid-July.

On-warrant copper stocks in LME approved warehouses are at 54,102 tonnes, hovering near their lowest since March 2019. Meanwhile, inventories in warehouses registered with the Shanghai Futures Exchange have nearly doubled in the last two weeks to 172,051 tonnes. This compares to 380,085 tonnes of stocks in mid-March.

LME aluminium slipped 1.1% to $1,744.50, zinc edged down 0.2% to $2,370, lead added 0.4% to $1,951.50, tin added 0.7% to $17,625 while nickel climbed 1.9% to $14,365.