HANOI: Copper prices, often used as a gauge of global economic health, rose on Friday and were set for their seventh straight weekly gain on hopes that US lawmakers would soon pass a new round of COVID-19 aid.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange rose 0.9% to $7,988 a tonne by 0223 GMT and was up 0.9% for the week.

The most-traded January copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange advanced 1.6% to 59,170 yuan ($9,048.78) a tonne, on course for a weekly gain of 1.6%.

US lawmakers continued negotiations on a potential coronavirus aid bill after months of talks, saying that failure to agree was no longer an option.

FUNDAMENTALS

TIN: The LME tin cash-three month spread was last at a $49-a-tonne premium, its highest since July 28, as LME inventories fell to their lowest since June 22 at 3,010 tonnes.

ZINC: The global zinc market registered a 480,000-tonne surplus in Jan-Oct, compared to a 216,000-tonne deficit in the same period last year.

ALUMINIUM: US premiums hit their highest since Sept. 30 of $311.602 a tonne.

PRICES: LME aluminium rose 1.3% to $2,079 a tonne, zinc advanced 0.6% to $2,873.50 a tonne, while ShFE aluminium climbed 1.5% to 16,705 yuan a tonne and ShFE zinc jumped 1.4% to 21,965 yuan a tonne.