Reuters reported that copper steadied after hitting a 2-1/2 month high in the previous session with caution about Europe's debt crisis prevailing ahead of Greek debt restructuring talks although a stronger euro prevented metals from falling further.

Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange traded at USD 8,170 per tonne in official rings from a close of USD 8,200 when it also hit its highest level since late October at USD 8,262.

Mr Andrey Kryuchenkov an analyst at VTB said that "Metals are lacking direction at the moment, because the physical market is quiet and China is trading. So we are likely to see jittery macro trading."

Credit Suisse said that with copper now trading back above USD 8,000 sentiment is turning and the question has flipped to how high can copper rise.

The analysts said that over the longer term we would argue that copper prices still have significant upside potential given the prevailing undervaluation and the poor supply outlook.

(Sourced from Reuters)