SINGAPORE: London copper edged up on Monday, lifted by progress in talks to avert the looming US "fiscal cliff" and as US regulators rubber-stamped a new investment product for the metal that could eat into supply.
Copper prices revived last month after signs that China's economic growth picked up pace, having bounced from a bottom in October.
Prospects that lawmakers in the world's biggest economy may finally agree on terms to avert a series of expiring tax cuts and spending rises feared capable of triggering a recession helped raise investor appetite for risky assets.
"Before the end of the year I don't really see huge selling pressure, with improving data from China and expectations for a resolution to the fiscal cliff," said analyst Bonnie Liu of Macquarie.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange had inched up to $8,079.25 a tonne by 0333 GMT, having finished the previous session almost flat.
Copper prices have rallied for five weeks running and have climbed more than 6 percent since mid-November on signs of a revival in economic growth in top consumer China, which accounted for 40 percent of refined demand last year.
The most-traded March copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange slipped by 0.12 percent to 58,060 yuan ($9,300) a tonne.
Differences over resolving the fiscal cliff narrowed significantly on Monday night as President Barack Obama made a counter-offer to Republicans that included a major change in position on tax hikes for the wealthy, according to a source familiar with the talks.
Center>Copyright Reuters, 2012
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