The most-traded November copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange traded up 1.04 percent at 54,190 yuan ($8,500) a tonne on Thursday. "Copper looked reasonably well set for a move higher, with the market positioned quite short, an increasing conviction that Chinese demand should pick up in the second half," said Hong Kong-based analyst James Luke of China International Capital Corp (CICC).
"The caveat of course being any further deterioration in Europe ... With the market on downside watch over Europe, it is quite difficult to see strong conviction emerging and so we expect a volatile and broadly rangebound summer."