METALS-Copper hits highest price in more than a week as China returns from holiday

(Updates prices in late EMEA trading)

By Eric Onstad

LONDON, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Copper prices rose to their highest level in more than a week on Tuesday, propelled by positive sentiment and firmer demand in top metals consumer China, where markets ?reopened after a holiday.

Benchmark three-month copper on the ?London Metal Exchange had gained 2.2% to $13,155 a metric ton by 1525 GMT after touching its highest price since ?February 12 at $13,196.

LME copper, which slipped 0.7% on Monday, has gained 22% over the ?past three months, but is well below a record ?high of $14,527.50 hit on ?January 29.

"The tariff announcement over the weekend, that's at the margins positive for the metals markets because ?it's better for China," said Alastair Munro, senior ?base metals strategist at broker Marex (MRX). Some investors believe the ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that struck down President Donald Trump's emergency tariffs ?will benefit China, highlighted by a rally in ?Chinese stock ?markets.

Munro noted there were signs that physical demand in China is also picking up, with the Yangshan copper premium , which reflects demand for copper ?imported into China, jumping 60% on Tuesday to $53 a ton.

The most-active copper contract ?on the Shanghai Futures Exchange climbed 0.8% to close daytime trading at 101,510 yuan ($14,728.88) a ton on the first day of trading after China's nine-day Lunar New Year break. Copper inventories in LME-registered warehouses rose another 1,350 tons to 243,175, data showed on Tuesday, ?the highest ?level since March 2025, having surged by 71% so far ?this year.

"What's going to be crucial is for us to start to see those stocks ?start to dissipate, maybe not this week or next week, but in the next three, four weeks," Munro said.

LME nickel climbed 4.1% to $17,995 a ton, its strongest price since February 12, as Indonesian officials considered revoking the environmental permit of PT QMB New Energy Materials, a nickel and cobalt joint venture led by China's GEM.

Among other metals, LME aluminium rose 0.4% to $3,101 ?a ton, zinc gained 0.9% to $3,383, lead added 0.5% to $1,960.50 and tin surged 5.2% to $50,200 having hit $50,510, its strongest price in nearly two weeks.

($1 = 6.8919 Chinese yuan renminbi) (Reporting by ?Eric Onstad; Additional reporting by ?Lewis Jackson and Dylan Duan in China; Editing by Hugh ?Lawson, Kevin Liffey and Paul Simao)