Shanghai copper futures rose on Monday after a significant fall in warehouse stocks at the Chinese exchange pointed to tight domestic supply, traders said.
Shanghai's most active contract, October, gained 350 yuan to 25,790 yuan ($3,115) per tonne, while other futures rose by 90 yuan and 540 yuan.
Combined volume fell to 150,024 lots from Friday's active 182,718 lots.
"There is a supply squeeze in the Chinese market," said a trader in Shanghai. "You can see it from the low level of stocks in Shanghai. Imports are also expected to slow through July."
After the Shanghai market closed on Friday, the exchange announced that copper stocks fell 15,989 tonnes to 53,992 tonnes for the week ended Thursday.
Supply is expected to remain tight due to fewer arrivals.
Growth in China's copper imports slowed to 18.4 percent year on year in the first five months to hit 578,915 tonnes, according to custom figures.
That was off about 40-60 percent growth that had persisted since the start of the year, up until April.
"The Chinese market is also watching the impact of the US dollar movements on the LME," the trader said.
The three-month copper contract on the London Metal Exchange was trading at $2,692/$2,696 a tonne in Monday's Asian trade, up from Friday's close of $2,681, on Chinese buying, traders said.
The contract fell during Friday's trade, but recouped some losses to end the kerb $9 lower as metal futures looked attractive after the dollar weakened, they said.
Spot copper traded in a range of 27,450-27,550 yuan a tonne.
Shanghai aluminium contracts bucked the copper trend to fall by between 40 yuan and 120 yuan. Volume expanded to 16,888 lots from Friday's 12,220 lots.
LME three-month aluminium was traded at $1,719/$1,723 a tonne in Monday's Asian trade from Friday's kerb close of $1,716.
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