By David Hodari and Amrith Ramkumar 

Copper prices rebounded Friday after Chinese officials lined up to urge market calm, though the industrial metal remained on course to end the week lower after the country's weaker-than-expected growth figures.

Copper for December delivery added 1.4% to $2.7850 a pound on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, on track to snap a five-session losing streak. Worries about the Chinese economy slowing and tariffs also contributing to weaker demand for materials used heavily in construction and manufacturing have pushed prices more than 15% below their June four-year highs.

But Friday's advance came after Chinese officials called for confidence in China's economic outlook. The rare joint effort followed Chinese GDP data, which revealed the weakest pace of economic expansion since the financial crisis.

The world's second largest economy grew by 6.5% in the third quarter from the previous year, down from 6.7% in the second quarter. That pace undershot the expectations of economists polled by The Wall Street Journal, who had forecast growth of 6.6%.

Despite those figures, Chinese equities rallied, with both the major Shenzhen and Shanghai indexes climbing 2.6% after the effort from Beijing officials to soothe nervous investors.

That reassurance reflected in base metals, with analysts pointing out positive indicators that coincided with the weak headline growth figure.

Infrastructure building numbers and another strong showing for construction starts were both well-received by the market, according to Vivienne Lloyd, a senior analyst at Macquarie.

Copper prices are often swayed by sentiment over the health of Chinese economic growth -- the country accounts for approximately 50% of global demand -- and the base metal has this week been at the mercy of broader market swings.

Despite Friday's rise, it was still on course to end the week lower, with sentiment for China-exposed assets still downbeat. The yuan hit a fresh 21-month low against the U.S. dollar Thursday, and the Shanghai Composite Index has lost about a quarter of its value so far in 2018.

Investors have become increasingly jittery in recent weeks over a cocktail of factors including rising U.S. bond yields, trade war fears and global growth.

China's slowing growth reflected that "the trade dispute with the U.S. is presumably beginning to have an impact," Commerzbank analysts said in a note.

In London trading, aluminum for delivery in three months edged down 0.1% to $2,011 a metric ton. Zinc dropped 2% to $2,630.50, tin was up 0.6% at $19,135, nickel rose 1.7% to $12,555 and lead was down 0.9% at $1,983.50.

Among precious metals, gold for December delivery edged up 0.1% to $1,231.20 a troy ounce, lifted by a slightly weaker dollar. The dollar's slight pullback lately and a pickup in market volatility have helped gold trim some of its 2018 decline, but analysts still think higher interest rates could pose a challenge moving forward. Higher Treasury yields make gold less attractive to investors, and a stronger dollar makes it more expensive for overseas buyers.

Most-active silver futures rose 0.9% to $14.730 a troy ounce, platinum added 0.9% to $839.30 and palladium climbed 1.4% to $1,079.70.

Write to David Hodari at David.Hodari@dowjones.com and Amrith Ramkumar at amrith.ramkumar@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 19, 2018 10:26 ET (14:26 GMT)

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