Shanghai copper fell nearly 1 percent on Thursday, after data showed China's economic growth accelerated in the last quarter of the year, fuelling fears that Beijing might move to further tighten its monetary policy. China's economy finished 2009 with a flourish as a 10.7 percent annual increase in fourth-quarter GDP took full-year growth to 8.7 percent, easily surpassing Beijing's 8 percent target.

"Obviously the month-on-month growth momentum is very strong," said Xing Ziqiang, an economist at CICC in Beijing. "So I think the chances for us to see an interest rate rise in the first quarter are increasing." An acceleration in consumer inflation to 1.9 percent in the 12 months to December from November's 0.6 percent figure is likely to reinforce worries about possible economic overheating on the back of a renewed surge in bank lending.

Copyright Reuters, 2010