The most-traded September copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell to its lowest since May 16, before cutting losses to finish up 0.40 percent at 52,650 yuan ($8,600) a tonne on Tuesday as European investors took heart from comments by a top European Central Bank official that signalled prolonged monetary support, repairing sentiment hurt by China growth concerns.
"I'm relatively bearish and trading that theme to clients," said Tim Radford at Sydney-based adviser Rivkin. "Given the stream of weak macro data, especially out of the Asian region, and weakness across the Chinese economy, we expect that will flow on to copper markets."