BENGALURU: Copper on Wednesday traded close to a five-week peak scaled in the previous session as the dollar weakened after softer US inflation data fuelled bets that the Federal Reserve might be done hiking interest rates.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was almost flat at $8,231 a metric ton by 0306 GMT, after hitting its highest since Oct. 2 on Tuesday.

The most-traded December copper contracts on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose 0.4% to 67,730 yuan ($9,344.13) a ton. The dollar stuttered at broadly lower levels after slumping overnight. A weaker greenback makes dollar-priced commodities less expensive for holders of other currencies.

China’s October economic activity perked up as industrial output grew at a faster pace and retail sales growth beat expectations.

Meanwhile, China’s property sales fell at a faster pace in October and investment in real estate slumped, official data showed, suggesting the crisis-hit sector is yet to emerge from its decline.

China’s property market is still in adjustment and transformation, Liu Aihua, spokesperson for the National Bureau of Statistics, said. LME aluminium gained 0.1% to $2,232.50 a ton, nickel fell 0.5% to $17,405, zinc added 0.6% to $2,615, lead was little changed at $2,200.50 and tin eased 0.1% to $25,170.

SHFE aluminium gained 0.5% to 19,035 yuan a ton, nickel was up 0.4% at 138,940 yuan, zinc gained 1.5% to 21,900 yuan, lead gained 0.2% to 16,490 yuan and tin was steady at 213,740 yuan.