New York copper futures closed slightly higher due to stock markets and oil prices

China's stock market fell sharply as the renminbi fell to a three-week low
.
China's central bank on Monday decided to generally cut the RMB reserve requirement ratio of financial institutions by 0.
5 percentage points from March 1, 2016, in order to maintain reasonable and sufficient liquidity in the financial system and guide steady and moderate growth in monetary credit
.

U.
S.
data also weighed
on the market.
The Chicago Purchasing Managers' Index, a measure of business activity in the Midwest, fell far short of analysts' expectations, and new home sales fell 2.
5 percent
m/m in January.
However, the recovery of the stock and oil markets drove copper higher
in late trading.
Analysts said the market lacked other fundamental supply and demand news to drive futures
.

Analysts said the copper market was mostly driven
by stronger stock markets.
Concerns about the quality of China, the world's second-largest economy, were the main reason for last year's tumbling in commodity prices, and turmoil since the beginning of the year has roiled financial markets
.
China is the world's
largest consumer of industrial metals.

Copper prices have rebounded
in recent weeks as oil prices begin to pick up and boost sentiment in commodity markets.
But analysts said they remained cautious because of the uncertain outlook for Chinese demand for the metal after the recent holiday
.
Investor sentiment is fidgety, and a bad China data threatens the same long position
.
Things may be fine right now, but investors should be cautious as fundamentals remain dangerous
.