Copper futures finished higher on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) Friday due to investors' expectations that the US Federal Reserve will not increase interest rates in the short term and over China's further stimulus measures, according to a report by London-based Metal Bulletin.
"Risk appetite of investors is on the rise as the latest Fed minute meetings showed that it did not outline a timeline for interest hikes," Xu Yongqi, a metal analyst at Guotai Junan Futures, told Reuters.
The most-traded copper futures for August ended at 48,760 yuan ($7830.86) per ton on the SHFE on Friday, up 1.46 percent from Thursday.
The market rose 2.16 percent compared to last week. The trading volume increased 61,534 lots Friday from Thursday's 160,010 lots.
Copper futures started the week at a high level due to prospects of further economic stimulus, as well as the technical purchasing after copper prices climbed up a key chart level, Reuters reported.
Chinese premier Li Keqiang said last week that China is confident to achieve its growth target of 7.5 percent for 2014.
"These news headlines have supported copper prices in terms of sentiment, but I do not see any real improvement in fundamentals, especially with seasonal demand weakness coming in," said Helen Lau, a senior mining analyst at Hong Kong-based UOB-Kay Hian Securities, Reuters reported.
