By Glenys Sim Dec. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Copper rebounded, extending a weekly advance, after the biggest drop in seven weeks lured investors. The metal used in construction and automobiles fell 2.4 percent yesterday, the most since Oct. 30, as the dollar jumped to a three-month high against a basket of six major currencies. Copper is still up 1.3 percent this week after better-than- expected U.S. housing data. China’s imports recovered from a nine-month low amid a drop in domestic inventories. China and the U.S. are the world’s largest users. “The medium to longer term outlook for better demand has not changed so we’ll always see bargain hunters emerge, especially following a big decline like the one yesterday,” Wang Xiaoli, analyst at Citic Futures Co., said from Shenzhen. Copper for delivery in three months on the London Metal Exchange rose as much as 0.8 percent to $6,925.75 a metric ton and traded at $6,900 at 12:13 p.m. in Singapore. March-delivery copper on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange added 0.3 percent to $3.1385 a pound, little changed this week. Copper in Shanghai pared losses after falling as much as 1.7 percent in early trading, the most in more than a week. March-delivery copper on the Shanghai Futures Exchange was down 0.8 percent at 55,340 yuan ($8,104) a ton at the 11:30 a.m. break, up 2 percent this week. The dollar weakened against 13 of its 16 major counterparts today. Dollar-denominated commodities are cheaper for holders of other currencies when the dollar declines. Among other LME-traded metals, aluminum rose 0.5 percent to $2,229 a ton, zinc gained 0.6 percent to $2,405 a ton and nickel added 0.2 percent to $17,100 a ton. Lead was little changed at $2,360 a ton, while tin fell 1.3 percent to $15,600 a ton. To contact the reporter for this story: Glenys Sim in Singapore at gsim4@bloomberg.net

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