Copper rose the most in more than six months in London on speculation that demand from Chinese buyers will keep expanding. Lead advanced to a record and tin reached its highest in 17 years.
Copper trading on the Shanghai Futures Exchange will resume on Feb. 26 after the weeklong Lunar New Year holiday. Chinese imports of copper and copper products jumped 44 percent in January from a year earlier, customs data showed Feb. 12. Chinese refined-copper imports in January were about 132,000 metric tons, almost double last year's average monthly imports of 69,000 tons, Macquarie Bank Ltd. said Feb. 19.
``We expect to see, post the Chinese New Year, more activity by Chinese buyers in the copper market,'' said Daniel Brebner, an analyst at UBS AG in London. ``We do expect to see considerable strength in copper over the next quarter or so.''
Copper for delivery in three months on the LME advanced $280, or 4.8 percent, to $6,070 a metric ton as of 2:21 p.m. local time. The contract earlier rose as much as 5.4 percent, the biggest intraday gain since Aug. 4. Today's gain pared this year's losses to 4.1 percent.
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