The most-traded April copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange climbed 2.3 percent to 40,760 yuan ($6,442) a tonne on Tuesday. "Copper has had a pretty good run in light of the China PMI numbers - I thought we would see some weakness throughout the week. The market maybe got itself a little bit too short and has to cover," said analyst Daniel Hynes of ANZ in Sydney.
"I wouldn't say we're out of the woods in terms of further potential weakness," he added. "Consumer interest is very low ahead of Chinese New Year," a physical trader in Singapore said, adding that he saw short-covering and fresh long positions from those betting the bottom for copper had been reached. Traders also have little incentive to ship metal to China now, because of the high cost to store it over the coming lunar new year, he added. "We believe copper and base metals prices in general will remain under pressure for the rest of 1Q2015 as sentiment and anxiety, especially in Asia, remain bearish," J.P. Morgan said in a research note.