By Bloomberg News Feb. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Copper climbed from a 10-week low in Shanghai, as declines lured buyers from China, the world’s top consumer of the metal. The May-delivery contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange gained as much as 1.9 percent to 55,490 yuan ($8,128) a metric ton, after plunging to the lowest level since Nov. 19 yesterday. The contract traded at 54,840 yuan at midday. Copper for three- month delivery on the London Metal Exchange was 0.2 percent down at $6,778 after gaining as much as 0.7 percent to $6,840 ton. London copper rebounded from the lowest price since Nov. 16 yesterday after a report showed U.S. manufacturing expanded at the fastest rate in five years and as the dollar dropped from a six-month high against a basket of major currencies. The U.S. is the second-largest user of the metal used in homes, cars and appliances. “There’s some buying on the dip,” Cao Yanghui, an analyst at Nanhua Futures Co., said from Hangzhou, Zhejiang province today. “We’ve got to be cautious though as the downward correction might not have completed yet.” Stockpiling demand which usually emerges ahead of China’s Lunar New Year is still there but is waning as the holiday draws near, Cao said. The Lunar New Year vacation starts on Feb. 14 and lasts a week. Aluminum added 0.5 percent to $2,095 a ton in London and was little changed at 16,360 yuan a ton in Shanghai. “With the large inventory buildup, aluminum prices could go beneath cost of production,” Li Ye, an analyst at Jiuheng Futures Co. said from Shanghai today. “Still, metals market is being guided by macro-economic factors rather than supply and demand,” he said. Chinese banks advanced a record 9.59 trillion yuan ($1.4 trillion) of new loans last year, helping spur record imports of metals such as copper and aluminum. The regulator has capped new lending at 7.5 trillion yuan for 2010 and took steps to curb lending last month. Zinc slid 0.8 percent to $2,129 a ton in London, lead rose 0.2 percent to $2,050 a ton, nickel added 0.6 percent to $18,116 a ton and tin was 0.3 percent up at $16,200 a ton. --Li Xiaowei. Editors: Richard Dobson, Ravil Shirodkar To contact the Bloomberg News staff on this story: Li Xiaowei in Shanghai at Xli12@bloomberg.net

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