London copper rose Wednesday as oil prices pared gains, easing concern about the impact on global growth prospects. Shanghai's most active copper contract ended higher too, up 1 percent at 74,700 yuan.
"We saw the Chinese come into the market late in the day. There was no particular conviction or reason for this, beyond the slight moderation in crude prices. Volume hasn't been too bad, but it was a messy kind of day," a trader in Singapore said. In other metals, nickel rose $75 to $28,850. Aluminium fell $11 to $2,599.