Copper climbs

Melbourne : Copper edged higher on Monday after China and the United States put their trade row on hold, easing concerns the dispute could escalate, although headwinds from a stronger dollar capped gains.

"It appears that America and China have moved towards a trade deal which will mean the expansion of U.S. goods purchased by China and thus avoiding the prospect of an out and out trade war," said Kingdom Futures in a report.

The "risk on" sentiment spurred gains in Hong Kong shares and also metals, with the exception of aluminium, which was pressured by more than 100,000 tonnes of inflow last week, and nickel, which has not been able to beat technical resistance at 15,000 a tonne, it said. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange edged up by 0.3 percent to $6,873.50 a tonne by 0503 GMT, reversing small losses from the previous session. Prices have been caught in a tight $6,765-$6,900 range for the past week.