Shanghai Futures Exchange copper rose 1.5 percent to 48,040 yuan ($6,969) a tonne on Thursday after a hike in near-term interest rates in China to hit its highest in more than a week on Thursday, with the dollar dropping after the US raised rates but showed no signs of speeding up its pace of tightening.
In other metals, ShFE zinc jumped 3.6 percent, having ridden on the coattails of a steel rally driven by China's infrastructure push, and signs of a deepening deficit.
ShFE lead also ended up 2.7 pct. The global lead market deficit more than doubled to 15,000 tonnes in January from a shortfall of 7,000 tonnes in December, according to ILZSG.
China's base metals output rose quickly in the first two months of this year, government data showed on Thursday, as the country's smelters ramped up production driven by rising prices.
Aluminium output posted a significant year-on-year growth of 15.6 percent to 5.49 million tonnes for January-February, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed.
Copper output rose 6.7 percent to 1.37 million tonnes for January-February. Zinc output rose 4.4 percent to 982,000 tonnes, and lead output rose 7.4 percent to 837,000 tonnes.
Production of the steelmaking raw material iron ore surged 15.3 percent in the first two months to 184.16 million tonnes from a year ago as steelmakers in the world's top producer of the metal raised output.
The global zinc market recorded a deficit of 27,000 tonnes in January after clocking up a revised surplus of 8,800 tonnes in December, data from the Lisbon-based International Lead and Zinc Study Group (ILZSG) showed.
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