The most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose 1.2 percent to 46,600 yuan a tonne on Thursday as slightly better-than-expected Chinese growth data eased some fears about a hard landing in the world's top consumer of industrial metals. "Chinese GDP helped to lift sentiment," said Joyce Liu, analyst at Phillip Futures. "It has eased some concerns on Chinese growth."
China's economy grew 7.4 percent in the first quarter, from a year earlier, exceeding forecasts of 7.3 percent growth. Still, other commodity-specific Chinese data was weak with March industrial output and January to March fixed asset investment a shade under estimates. At 7.4 percent, China's growth is at its slowest in 18 months, which has already prompted limited government action. China consumes about 40 percent of the world's copper.