Bareksa.com - Shanghai copper rallied more than 2 percent on Monday to touch its highest in four months, while London copper hit a three-week peak as stronger crude oil prices lifted purchases of other commodities and set off a flurry of technical buying.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange had climbed 0.2 percent to $6,835.50 a tonne by 0110 GMT, after hitting $6,850 a tonne, its highest since June 4.

* The most-traded August copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rallied 1.7 percent to 49,280 yuan ($7,900) a tonne. It earlier climbed 2.2 pct to 49,540 yuan a tonne, the strongest since Feb. 26.

* Iran's supreme leader accused the United States on Sunday of trying to retake control of Iraq by exploiting sectarian rivalries, as Sunni insurgents drove towards Baghdad from new strongholds along the Syrian border.

* U.S. crude oil jumped above $107 a barrel on Friday, reaching a new nine-month high on short-covering ahead of the July contract expiry, while Brent dropped on profit-taking as concerns eased over supply disruptions due to violence in Iraq.

* Hedge funds and money managers cut their bullish bets to switch the copper market to a net short position in the week to June 17, according to data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Friday.

* Shaken by a fraud investigation into metal financing in the world's seventh-busiest port, banks and trading houses have been made painfully aware of the risks they face storing commodities in China's sprawling warehouse sector.

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MARKETS NEWS

* Asian stocks rose in early trade on Monday after Wall Street advanced to new highs and fanned risk appetite, while crude oil held near nine-month highs as violence in Iraq showed no signs of letting up. (Source : Reuters)