Copper futures in Shanghai recorded strong gains on Friday thanks largely to a rally in the mainland stock markets and expectations for more economic stimulus measures.

The most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) for June delivery closed at 43,690 yuan ($7,051) per ton on Friday, up 550 yuan or 1.27 percent from the previous day. The contract was up 310 yuan or 0.71 percent week-on-week.

The benchmark three-month copper contract on the London Metal Exchange (LME) fell slightly by 0.02 percent to close at $6,086 per ton on Friday. But on a weekly basis, the contract was up 1.10 percent.

The bullish performance in the mainland stock markets has spilled over into domestic base metal markets, lifting investor sentiment to a certain extent. The Shanghai Composite Index closed at a fresh seven-year high on Friday, with a gain of 14.39 percent so far this month.

Meanwhile, expectations that more monetary easing measures will be rolled out to boost China's slowing economy also supported copper contracts. The country's first-quarter GDP grew by 7.0 percent from a year earlier, the slowest growth in six years, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Wednesday.

However, despite the upbeat market sentiment, the domestic copper market is still burdened by oversupply. According to figures released by the NBS on Thursday, China's copper production reached 635,000 tons in March, up 7.3 percent year-on-year.

Global Times