HANOI: London copper prices inched closer towards an important psychological level of $10,000 on Thursday, as a weaker US dollar made the greenback-priced metal cheaper to holders of other currencies.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was up 1.1% at $9,980 a tonne by 0632 GMT, having risen to as high as $9,999.50 a tonne earlier in the session, only 50 cents off the key $10,000 resistance level last hit in February 2011.

"(Copper is) supported by a weaker dollar and dovish comments from the Federal Reserve," said commodities broker Anna Stablum of Marex Spectron in a note.

The dollar was pinned near nine-week lows as a doggedly dovish outlook from the Fed and bold spending plans from the White House gave a green light for the global reflation trade.

The most-traded June copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange hit 72,960 yuan ($11,273.53) a tonne, its highest since February 2011.