OREANDA-NEWS. February 05, 2015. London copper futures traded slightly lower in late Asia trading, see-sawing during the day and holding close to the strongest gains since mid-2013 posted overnight.

"Copper made a strong showing after Tuesday's (London) session though some profit-taking was inevitable," said a trader in Sydney.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was 0.36 percent lower at \\$5,669.50 at 0748 GMT. The contract jumped more than 3 percent in Tuesday's London session on the back of higher oil prices, the biggest one-day percentage gain since May 2013.

The benchmark contract initially traded lower in Asia, which traders said was a reaction to the early retreat in oil prices, before rallying for short period.

U.S. crude tracked lower throughout the day and was down 83 cents at \\$52.22 a barrel at 0700 GMT versus an about 19 percent gain over the previous four sessions.

"Oil at the start took some wind out of copper's sails before the momentum driven by short-covering (in copper) overnight kicked in," the trader said.

The early February rally in copper reverses a slump in January, when prices dropped almost 13 percent, reflecting in part broad-based index selling led by oil.

Still, copper prices remain vulnerable to signs of rising supplies. LME stocks have risen by more than a third this year.

The most traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange settled 1.8 percent higher at 41,160 yuan (\\$6,589) a tonne, helped by prospects of fresh economic stimulus in China.

China's service sector grew at the slowest pace in six months in January as growth in new business weakened, a private survey showed, raising expectations that policymakers may unveil more stimulus steps to avert a sharper slowdown in the world's second-largest economy.