Reuters reported that London copper rose after the US Federal Reserve reassured investors of its commitment to monetary stimulus, helping prices pull away from 2 month lows hit the session before.

Three month copper on the London Metal Exchange had climbed 0.50% to USD 7,898 per tonne by 0318 GMT adding to small gains from the previous session.

Copper prices fell to the lowest since December 21 on Monday at USD 7,785, and are sitting in negative territory for the year. The most traded June copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange advanced 0.45% to CNY 57,570 per tonne.

Mr Dominic Schnider Singapore based analyst at UBS said that "Bernanke's comments helped to build sentiment. The new leadership in top metals consumer China will take more stimulus steps as the Q2 unfolds helping to firm copper prices. That would outweigh any drag on the country's exports if parliamentary deadlock in Italy delays a eurozone recovery. For us, the sell off is a buy."

Mr Ben Bernanke Fed Chairman strongly defended the US central bank's monetary stimulus before Congress on Tuesday easing financial market worries over a possible early retreat from bond purchases.

Italy's stunned political parties searched for a way forward on Tuesday after an inconclusive election gave none of them a parliamentary majority and threatened prolonged instability and a renewal of the European financial crisis. Strengthening appetite for risk was reflected in a rebound in Asian shares on Wednesday, tracking US stocks higher while the yen held near 1 month peaks.

Standard Bank said that we believe that base metals in general would remain vulnerable to selling ahead of the PMI manufacturing data for China out on Friday. Following the weak Flash PMI number for China and in line with our view, there seems to be some nervousness in the market about the sustainability of base metal rallies in general.