By David Hodari 

LONDON--Copper prices edged up Monday, buoyed by hopes for a trade agreement between the U.S. and China on a day of thinner-than-normal volumes.

The industrial metal was up 0.3% at $6,243.50 a metric ton, with trading volumes expected to drain away later in the day with the U.S. on vacation.

Gold, meanwhile, ticked up 0.1% to $1,324.50 a troy ounce as the U.S. dollar edged lower. The WSJ Dollar Index, which measures the U.S. currency against a basket of 16 others, was last down 0.1%, extending its five-day losses to 0.3%.

Copper remained in its recent trading range Monday, as investors remained upbeat about President Trump's remarks last week that U.S.-China trade negotiations, due to resume this week, had been "very productive."

Improved Chinese credit data released last week were also supporting metals markets, according to Alastair Munro, broker at Marex Spectron in a note.

In copper-specific news, India's supreme court overturned an order to restart Vedanta Resources's copper smelter in the Tamil Nadu region, according to local reports. That keeps Vedanta's 400,000 ton-a-year smelter closed and maintains pressure on global supply.

Elsewhere, Freeport Indonesia's copper concentrate export permit expired on Feb. 15, and the company hasn't received export recommendations from the mining ministry that will help it to obtain a new permit, according to Reuters.

Investors were awaiting further announcements on trade, as well as European, U.S., and Chinese economic data due out in the course of the week.

Among precious metals, silver was up 0.25% at $15.81 a troy ounce, palladium was up 1.57% at $1,457 a troy ounce and platinum was down 0.05% at $806.61 a troy ounce.

Among base metals, aluminum was down 0.13% at $1,853 a metric ton, zinc was down 1.73% at $2,618 a metric ton, tin was up 0.05% at $21,115 a metric ton, nickel was down 0.52% at $12,350 a metric ton and lead was down 1.56% at $2,044.50 a metric ton.

Write to David Hodari at David.Hodari@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 18, 2019 06:43 ET (11:43 GMT)