European Union leaders made some progress towards a strategy to fight the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis on Sunday, but the final decision was deferred until a second summit on Wednesday. Base metals rose across the board, with the most-active January copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rising 5.1 percent to a high of 54,280 yuan ($8,502.51) a tonne shortly before its midday close. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange rose 2.9 percent to $7,350 a tonne by 0349 GMT, after rallying more than 6 percent on Friday, its largest one-day advance since early 2010. "Prices have risen today due to short-covering as investors react to better news out of the euro zone. There will still be volatility and downside room in the short to medium term, although I see prices rising from the end of November," said Jinrui Futures analyst Zhao Kai. "Today's HSBC preview China PMI data shows that China's economy hasn't slowed down that much and supports the view that copper prices should rise after consolidating in the next few weeks." China's vast manufacturing sector picked up moderately in October, snapping a three-month contraction and underscoring the resilience of the world's second-largest economy backed by robust domestic demand. The rise in the HSBC's China Flash Purchasing Managers' Index could soothe persistent investor fears of an abrupt slowdown, or hard landing, in China's economy that could send an already fragile world economy into a recession. Technicals indicate LME copper faces a resistance at $7,343 and a break above this level will open the way to $7,734 per tonne, while Shanghai copper will drop to a low of 50,760 yuan per tonne, as it is still riding on a downward wave "5", Reuters market analyst Wang Tao said. "Some extra confidence in Europe is helping copper prices rise, while the euro is steady. The news on Sarkozy backing down from his stance is good news, even if it is not a solution yet," said a Sydney-based trader. French President Nicolas Sarkozy backed down in the face of implacable German opposition to his desire to use unlimited European Central Bank funds to fight the crisis. Instead, the euro zone may turn to emerging economies such as China and Brazil for help in underpinning its sickly bond market. Hopes for a resolution to the euro zone debt crisis and data from China lifted Asian stocks on Monday. COMEX copper speculators trimmed their net short positions last week, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission's (CFTC) commitments of traders report showed. In the United States, two top Federal Reserve officials are arguing the US central bank should consider resuming controversial large-scale mortgage bond purchases to support a fragile economic recovery, reviving talks of more monetary easing. International Copper Study Group (ICSG) said world refined copper market saw a deficit of 118,000 tonnes in the January to July period this year compared with a deficit of 329,000 tonnes in the same period last year. Shanghai lead rose as much as 3.8 percent to a high of 14,780 yuan.