SHANGHAI (Dow Jones)--Copper on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose Tuesday as investor sentiment improved due to better-than-expected Chinese fourth-quarter economic data. The benchmark April copper contract settled 2.4% higher at CNY59,390 a metric ton. Copper initially treaded water, tracking a subdued session in Europe overnight in the absence of new developments regarding the euro-zone debt crisis. It began rising immediately after China released surprisingly strong gross domestic product data for the fourth quarter, which helped ease concerns over a hard landing. China's GDP grew 8.9% in the fourth quarter, slower than the previous quarter's 9.1% rise, but faster than a median forecast of 8.6% made by economists polled by Dow Jones Newswires. "We know China isn't going to encounter a hard landing, but there's still a long way to go for Europe to get their debt problems solved, so for metals, the macro background is still pretty much the same," a Shanghai-based trader said. Still, investors bought on dips, looking beyond concerns over Europe, as a stronger Chinese economy would likely mean more demand for industrial metals. Traders said the upbeat GDP number reduced the chance of further immediate monetary loosening in the near term. Copper and other metals are likely to remain locked in their recent ranges as investors remain on the sidelines ahead of the Lunar New Year, they said. The Shanghai-based trader tipped a range of CNY52,420-CNY60,000/ton ahead of the holiday. China's 2011 copper output rose 14% to a record 5.18 million tons last year, the National Bureau of Statistics said Tuesday, as smelters kept production running at high levels due to relatively high global prices and robust demand from the domestic power sector. December output totaled 457,000 tons, up 8% from a year earlier and 2% from November, it said. Production may continue to rise this year as more planned new capacity will be brought online to meet growing demand from infrastructure projects and housing construction. China is the world's largest consumer of copper. Copper at the Changjiang Nonferrous Metals Trading Market, a major spot metals market in Shanghai, was quoted at CNY57,950-CNY58,100/ton compared with CNY57,100-CNY57,250/ton Monday. Three-month copper ended Monday's PM kerb $89 higher at $8,089/ton at the London Metal Exchange. It was quoted 1.7% higher at $8,229/ton at 0700 GMT, when the SHFE closed. Benchmark aluminum rose 0.9%, lead gained 1.3% and zinc settled 1.4% higher. Tuesday's settlement prices in yuan a metric ton and LME late kerb prices from Monday in dollars a ton: Metal SHFE LME Copper Apr 59,390 Up 1,380 3Mo 8,089 Up 89.0 Aluminum Apr 16,315 Up 140 3Mo 2,162.5 Up 18.5 Zinc Apr 15,470 Up 220 3Mo 1,960 No change Lead Mar 15,580 Up 195 3Mo 2,031 Up 20.0 -Yue Li contributed to this article; Dow Jones Newswires; (8621) 6120 1200; yue.li@dowjones.com

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