Shanghai copper was holding onto near 3 percent gains secured earlier on Friday, helped by renewed Chinese buying that eased the impact of panic caused by Japan's earthquake and nuclear crisis, and catching up with Thursday's London rises.
Chinese buying interest has ticked up over the past few days after LME copper prices failed to breach below the key $9,200 level effectively. Shanghai's most-active copper futures contract rose by nearly 3 percent at 71,820 yuan a tonne, on course for a 3.6 percent gain from a week earlier. Shanghai Futures Exchange said it will launch trading of lead futures on March 24, with the contract period from September 2011 to March 2012 and lot size at 25 tonnes, five times the lot size on existing futures.