By Glenys Sim Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Copper surged in Asia as China, the world's largest user of industrial metals, unveiled a 4 trillion yuan ($586 billion) stimulus plan to prop up growth, bolstering the demand prospects of industrial metals. Prices in London jumped as much as 8.4 percent, leading base metals higher, after China said yesterday it will boost spending on infrastructure. The funds, equivalent to about a fifth of the nation's gross domestic product last year, will be used by 2010. ``The current euphoria is probably going to be short-lived once investors start focusing on the fundamentals again,'' said Wang Zheng, a trader at Everbright Futures Co. in Shanghai. ``The amount may seem like a lot but two years is a long time for the money to be spread across.'' Copper for delivery in three months on the London Metal Exchange rose for the first day in four to $4,070 a ton, and stood at $4,045 a ton at 12:27 p.m. Singapore time. The metal on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose as much as 8.4 percent to $1.84 a pound in after- hours electronic trading, before trading at $1.8285. Copper for January delivery on the Shanghai Futures Exchange surged the exchange-imposed daily limit of 4 percent, from the previous settlement price, to 31,000 yuan ($4,544) a ton, and stood at 30,990 yuan at the 11:30 a.m. local time break. ``The plan may help stem falling demand but it still won't help consumption return to previous years' levels,'' Cai Luoyi, chief analyst at China International Futures (Shanghai) Co., said. Stimulus Plan China announced the package after finance ministers from the Group of 20 nations, of which China is a member, issued a joint statement saying they are ready to act ``urgently'' to tackle the economic slump. The stimulus plan, of which 100 billion yuan is earmarked for this quarter, will go toward low-rent housing, infrastructure in rural areas, as well as roads, railways and airports, China's State Council said. The package may help ``contain the downside risks for the Chinese economy over the next few years'', Frank Gong, head of China equity research at JPMorgan Chase & Co. said in a note to clients today. ``The package indeed is very aggressive, and should help to ease the market worry that China growth could slip below 8 percent in 2009,'' Gong said. Among other LME-traded metals, aluminum was up 3.6 percent at $2,030 a ton, zinc gained 5.4 percent to $1,152, lead added 6.2 percent to $1,445, nickel jumped 10 percent to $12,100, and tin rose 4.1 percent to $15,300 as of 12:28 p.m. in Singapore. To contact the reporter for this story: Glenys Sim in Singapore at gsim4@bloomberg.net

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