Stimulus hopes carry copper higher

Chinese metal futures rose Monday in what turned out to be a quiet day for the market as the London Metal Exchange (LME) was closed for the day, leaving traders and investors with even less direction than they've been accustomed to recently.

The most traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) rose 0.4 percent to close at 55,840 yuan ($8,782.84) per ton. The contract eased lower after opening 0.74 percent above Friday's closing price, but still ended the day in the black.

The contract maintained some of the momentum from the increased expectations of US monetary stimulus left over from last week, but the lack of guidance from the LME kept big movements in check.

"Hopes of stimulus in the US and China have boosted Shanghai copper. But upward momentum is capped by low trading interest today with the LME closed," CIFCO Futures analyst Zhou Jie told Reuters Monday.

Gold prices advanced on the same stimulus hopes. The SHFE December gold contract rose 0.53 percent to close at 346.63 yuan per gram. The contract opened 0.58 percent higher but slid throughout most of the session.

Meanwhile, the Comex December gold contract tacked on another 0.2 percent by the time the Chinese mainland markets closed, trading at $1,675.90 per ounce.

Exchange Traded Funds, which count among the world's biggest buyers of gold, raised their holding in bullion and gold futures to a record 2,208 tons on hopes of another round of easing by the US Federal Reserve, according to the Australian bank ANZ.