BEIJING: London copper prices climbed on Monday with signs of better demand in top consumer China and falling inventories.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was 0.5% higher at $9,524.50 per metric ton by 0459 GMT.

The most-traded October copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange was down 0.4% at 75,480 yuan ($10,712.92) a ton.

Copper prices hit their highest levels in two months after the U.S. Federal Reserve kicked off its monetary easing cycle last week with a larger-than-usual half-percentage-point reduction.

A rate cut brightens the economic outlook and is expected to raise the demand for industrial metals.

Consumption of copper picked up with seasonal demand in China and previously falling prices.

Deliverable copper stocks on SHFE fell further to 164,938 tons on Friday, and have more than halved from a multi-year peak in early June.

Copper pulls back from two-month peak on firm dollar

Yangshan copper premium, an indicator of China’s import appetite, hit a nine-month high last week.

The market is also watching out for more stimulus measures from China. On Monday, China’s central bank supplied 14-day cash to its banking system for the first time in months and at a lower interest rate, signalling its intent to further ease monetary conditions.

Weighing on the market, the dollar hit its highest level in two weeks on Friday after the Bank of Japan left interest rates unchanged and indicated that it was not in a hurry to hike themagain. It was up marginally in Asia hours on Monday.

LME aluminium slid 0.7% to $2,468.50 a ton, zinc was flat at $2,873, nickel declined 0.2% to $16,475, lead shed 0.6% to $2,043 while tinmoved 0.1% higher to $32,145.

SHFE aluminium declined 1.3% to 19,815 yuan a ton, nickel nudged down 0.1% to 125,380 yuan, zinc slipped 1.6% to 23,760 yuan, lead fell 1.7% at 16,355 yuan and tin moved 0.2% lower to 259,600 yuan.