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Copper rose as centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron's strong performance in the first round of the French presidential election boosted appetite for cyclical assets, sending stock markets sharply higher.
Sunday's vote, which could pave the way for pro-EU Macron to beat far-right rival Marine Le Pen in a deciding vote next month, delivered the outcome broadly favoured by investors. The euro also leapt.
"There's a bit of a risk-on mood after the outcome of the first round of the presidential election in France, which has lent some buoyancy to the prices," said Commerzbank analyst Daniel Briesemann.
Nonetheless, copper remains vulnerable to a further correction, he said, after an unwinding of the post-USÂ election reflation trade pulled it back from first-quarter peaks.
"Prices went too high and there was, and still is, correction potential," he said. "To me, this is nothing more than a short plateau in the downtrend. I'm convinced that we'll see copper below $US5500 in a relatively short period of time."
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange closed at $US5656 a tonne, up 0.6 per cent.
Mining company Anglo American reported a 9 per cent rise in overall production for the first quarter of 2017 compared with 2016, but copper output fell 3 per cent because of poorer grades and a temporary suspension at the El Soldado mine in Chile.
The global refined copper market had a 51,000 tonne surplus in January, up from 44,000 tonnes in January last year, the International Copper Study Group (ICSG) said.
LME copper could fall to $US5592 a tonne after its failure to break resistance at $US5689, while LME aluminium could test support at $US1931, Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao said.
Aluminium stocks in LME-registered warehouses
LME aluminium closed with a 0.7 per cent gain at $US1946 a tonne, while zinc finished 0.8 per cent up at $US2604 and lead 0.9 per cent higher at $US2162. Tin closed 1.1 per cent down at $US19,650, with nickel retreating by 0.9 per cent to $US9260.