LME copper futures fell slightly and the market was light.

Foreign news on December 24, the London Metal Exchange (LME) copper prices fell slightly on Friday, affected by light holiday trading and concerns about weak physical demand.

Copper for three-month delivery fell 0.46 per cent, or $44, to close at $9568.00 a tonne, with trading hours shortened on Friday due to the Christmas Eve holiday.

Earlier, copper prices rose for four consecutive sessions, hitting a two-week high on Thursday.

"Metal prices have probably recovered their recent losses, but this is mainly in futures trading, but the spot market is very calm and demand is declining," said Malcolm Freeman, a senior analyst at Kingdom Futures.

China's Yangshan copper premium has fallen to $90 a tonne from $104 a week ago.

"generally speaking, there will not be much exciting news before the end of the year, unless major news or developments are reported, such as Omicron's news that exceeds our expectations," said Wong Min Hao, commodities manager at Phillip Futures in Singapore.

Health experts warn that the fight against the Omicron variant is far from over, although the two drugmakers say their vaccines protect the virus and there are signs that the virus has a low risk of hospitalization.

An important copper transport road in Peru has been temporarily lifted after a month-long blockade, but this does not guarantee the resumption of operations at MMG's Las Bambas copper mine in a sustainable manner.

Aluminum for three-month delivery closed down 0.32% at $2837 a tonne, halting three consecutive days of gains. The surge in energy prices in Europe raised concerns about rising production costs and smelter closures, pushing aluminum futures to a two-month high on Thursday.

Energy-intensive industries have urged the EU to cope with soaring energy prices as record costs hit their competitiveness and could prompt European companies to relocate.

A Japanese aluminium buyer has agreed to pay a global producer a premium of $177 a tonne in the first quarter, 20 per cent below the current quarterly benchmark price, market participants said on Friday.