Escalating tensions between China and the West, as well as potential US tax hikes also hit sentiment and led to investors buying into safe-haven dollar.
The most-traded May copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange climbed 1.1% to 67,770 yuan ($10,421.34) a tonne. Earlier in the day, it hit its highest since March 3 at 68,230 yuan.
The large decline in Chinese smelter activity was well anticipated due to the holiday period and should recover fairly quickly.
If the improvements seen in most regions continue through March, combined with a resumption in Chinese activity, the next month could be the first time in many months where activity level trends are aligned across all major regions.
The state-run Chilean Copper Commission (Cochilco) reported that production by Codelco, the world's largest miner of the red metal, rose 19.4% year-on-year to 142,000 tonnes in the month.
Collahuasi - a partnership between Glencore and Anglo American along with Japanese companies - posted a 6.5% year-on-year rise in production to 57,000 tonnes.
Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was up 1.2% at $9,150 a tonne.
On the Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE), speculators' net long reached 57.9% of open contracts on Friday, the most since 2003, before falling to 51.8% on Monday, Marex said.
Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange was up 0.2% at $9,112 a tonne.
*Prices have shot up 16% in February, the biggest monthly rise since November 2016, taking gains since the start of 2020 to around 50%.
Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange was down 1.9% at $7,975 a tonne.
There has been a fair amount of profit-taking on long positions," a copper trader said. "The dollar and China's coronavirus cases triggered the sell-off, but copper has come a long way since (early) last year.