The most-traded May copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange gained 1.2 percent to close at 60,050 yuan a tonne on Tuesday after Greece struck a deal for a second bailout package to avoid a default next month, fuelling appetite for riskier assets. With the Greece burden out of the way, at least for the meantime, investor focus will likely turn to Chinese demand.
Demand from the world's biggest copper consumer has been slack, with copper stocks in Shanghai warehouses at their highest in nearly a decade last week. China's imports of refined copper fell to 335,480 tonnes in January from a record 406,937 tonnes in December, according to a data breakdown from the General Administration of Customs released on Tuesday.