Base metals rose across the board on Thursday after the European Union and the United States agreed to negotiate on trade, easing fears of a trade war, though worries over growth in top consumer China kept gains in check, reports Reuters.
In what European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker called a "major concession," US President Donald Trump agreed on Wednesday to refrain from imposing car tariffs while the two sides launch negotiations to cut other trade barriers.
Trump and Juncker also agreed to seek to "resolve" US tariffs on steel and aluminium and Europe's retaliatory duties.
However, concerns lingered that Washington's trade tensions with China could yet escalate further.
The Chinese yuan fell again on Thursday, and is down more than 6 percent against the dollar since mid-June amid the trade tensions.
"The depreciation of the yuan is an ongoing headwind (for metals) but I actually think China is doing OK. There's a decent fiscal impulse coming through and underlying fundamentals are OK," said Colin Hamilton, head of commodities research at BMO Capital Markets.
"You'll see seasonal recovery if nothing else as we head into late August. We're unlikely to hit levels seen earlier this year but copper can be expected back at $6,600 a tonne," he added.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was up 0.2 percent at $6,302 a tonne by 1029 GMT.
"The (aluminium) curve has switched back into contango. Accordingly, financial transactions have picked up again, which is reflected in a sharp rise in cancelled LME warrants. Supply is artificially tightening again, in other words," said Commerzbank in a note.
Freeport-McMoRan said a revised development plan at Grasberg in Indonesia would reduce copper and gold production during a transition to underground mining in 2019 and 2020.
Anglo American is going ahead with developing its $5.0 billion Quellaveco assets in Peru, one of the world's largest untapped copper projects.
