Reuters reported that London copper inched up heading for its biggest gain in 3 months on cautious optimism that demand for the industrial metal will rebound this year with Asian economies generally resilient in the face of global financial turmoil.

Fundamentals
1. Three month copper on the London Metal Exchange climbed 0.22% to USD 8,447.75 per tonne by 0117 GMT after its biggest decline in more than a week in the previous session. Prices fell 1.1% on Monday, the largest 1 day drop since January 20th 2012. Futures are set for an increase of 11% this month.

2. The most traded April copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange gained 0.5 percent to CNY 60,640 per tonne.

3. The IMF's top official for Asia and the Pacific said that Asian economies remain generally resilient in the face of global financial turmoil and a growing debt crisis in the euro zone.

4. Workers of one union at Teck Resources Limited's mid sized Quebrada Blanca copper mine in northern Chile are poised to strike after labor contract negotiations with the mining company broke down.

5. Chile's copper output jumped in December from the same month a year earlier but clocked 3.2% drop in 2011 from a year earlier as falling ore grades, labor woes and weather problems hammered the world's top producer.

(Sourced from Reuters)