Industrial metals like copper, zinc and aluminium were all 0.6-1.4 percent higher though safe-haven spot gold was little changed after posting three days of losses.
Copper’s rise lifted it to its highest in six weeks and came as wage talks at the world’s biggest mine – BHP’s, Escondida mine in Chile – rumbled on, Reuters reports.
Last year, a failure to reach a labour deal at the mine led to a 44-day strike that jolted the global copper market.
“Union leaders at the Escondida copper operation sent their most ambitious wage proposal to owners BHP Billiton, raising the possibility of strike action later this year,” analysts at ANZ bank said in a note.
