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Copper bounced on Tuesday from its lowest levels in more than three months as funds bought back short positions, the dollar weakened slightly and China detailed more of its reforms.
Copper was unlikely to rise much further, however, because of uncertainty about the U.S. central bank's plans for its stimulus programme, analysts said.
"There's been some short covering because the market held above support at $6,900 (a tonne)," said analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov at VTB Capital. "But I don't think this (move higher) will last."
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange rebounded from a session low of $6,910 a tonne, its weakest since Aug. 7, touching a intra-day peak of $7,005. It closed virtually flat, down 0.1 percent at $6,970.
At the lows, copper had shed about 6 percent over the past four weeks after breaking out of its $300 range.
Investors sold copper on prospects of less liquidity in the markets if the Fed tapers its commodity-friendly monetary stimulus programme and on expectations of more supply next year.
"The small rebound from the new lows this morning was due to opportunistic buying, but uncertainty over stimulus tapering is still dominating headlines and it will still happen in 2014," Kryuchenkov added.
Top Fed officials from opposite sides of the policy spectrum pointed to improvement in the U.S. economy on Monday, adding more weight to the notion that the central bank is moving closer to reducing the pace of its $85 billion-a-month asset purchases.
Scaling down the stimulus programme would reduce liquidity available to businesses and to commodity investors, eroding price support for metals.
Helping support metals was a slightly softer dollar after the Chinese central bank said it would gradually withdraw from regular intervention in the foreign exchange market.
A weaker dollar makes metals priced in the U.S. currency cheaper for buyers outside the United States.
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