Base metals on the London Metal Exchange (LME) have closed mostly higher but still mixed in quiet trade with market players in China absent for a public holiday.
At the close of open-outcry trading in the London ring on Monday, LME 3-month copper was 0.8 per cent higher on Friday's settlement at $US6,675 per metric ton.
Aluminium fell 0.2 per cent to $US1,817 per ton.
"With the Chinese on holiday today LME turnover was low and trading conditions were quiet across the complex," said analysts at broker Sucden Financial.
"Nickel was steady as the Indonesian ore ban and Ukraine tensions continue to support the market," they said.
Nickel prices have benefited in recent months from an ore export ban in Indonesia, enforced in January, that poses risks to global supply levels.
The move by one of the world's biggest exporters of nickel ore is part of a wider push to retain more of the revenues generated from its vast mineral wealth.
The metal closed 0.2 per cent higher at $US16,400 per ton.
