Copper gains

Beijing: Copper prices in London and Shanghai extended gains for a second day on Tuesday, with investors lured to buy low after a trade war-fuelled sell-off last week.

The United States on Friday slapped tariffs on $34 billion of goods from top metals consumer China, which responded in kind.

Fears that the trade spat could dampen demand for industrial metals had weighed on copper prices. "It´s already maybe a bit oversold," said Helen Lau, an analyst, Argonaut Securities in Hong Kong.

The prospect of strikes by labour unions in South America has "dragged on a bit too long," which is also supporting prices, she added. Labour negotiations at BHP Billiton Plc´s Escondida copper mine in Chile, the world´s largest, are entering the final three weeks before a 30-month contract expires at the end of July. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was up 0.4 percent at $6,418 a tonne, as of 0414 GMT, extending a 1.7-percent gain from the previous session.