The most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange reversed earlier losses to close 0.78-percent higher at 45,500 yuan ($7,311) a tonne on Friday. The Shanghai contract was initially weighed down by data showing China's new home prices fell again in November before falling in step with the LME contract. Shanghai lead rose around 2 percent, partly recovering from a 4-percent loss recorded on Thursday.
Nickel slipped 0.3 percent to $15,991 a tonne, above a one-month low touched in Thursday trading. A trader in Sydney said investors were becoming increasingly sensitive to supply-side disruptions amid signs of global tightening. The copper market recorded a deficit of 62,000 tonnes in the January to October period, which follows a surplus of 281,000 tonnes in the whole of 2013, according to the World Bureau of Metal Statistics (WBMS). "We're hearing questions asked about where the fundamentals are heading in the new year," the trader said.