Shanghai copper rose to its highest in more than three months on Thursday on hopes the European Central Bank will unveil a new plan to combat surging borrowing costs in indebted euro zone states. "In the short term, decisive actions by the ECB will boost copper prices, but the medium-to-long term fundamentals will weigh on market sentiment," said Zhang Ao, an analyst at Minmetals Futures in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.
Zhang said the 250-day moving average near $7,900 is a key resistance level for London copper. The most-traded December copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose to as high as 56,460 yuan ($8,900) a tonne, its loftiest since May 14, before easing to close at 56,220 yuan.