Copper climbs on strong China trade data

Copper and other base metals rose on Monday after the dollar fell and better-than-expected Chinese trade data eased fears of a slowdown in demand in the top commodities consumer. A surge in China's exports in September was an upbeat signal for the world's second-largest economy while a near 15 per cent jump in copper imports cheered investors about metals demand. Imports of raw material copper ores and concentrate jumped 34.4 per cent from the previous month in September, hitting a record 1.29 million tonnes. Many analysts are expecting the copper market to go into surplus due to higher mine output this year. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange climbed 1.1 per cent to $6,710 a tonne by 1000 GMT, after falling in the previous session. Prices were climbing away from five-month lows of $6,600 touched on Oct. 2. The most-traded December Copper Contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose 0.6 per cent to 47,850 yuan ($7,810) a tone, according to dailymail.co