"Fund buying should continue and there may be some book squaring before the weekend," said one trader.

The recovering Japanese yen was a key factor supporting sentiment in the base metals market, the trader said.

LME copper ended Thursday up $36 a tonne at $1,678.

The Singapore trader saw immediate resistance for the red metal at $1,690/$1,700.

Aluminium also saw currency-linked gains on Thursday, ending $12.5 firmer at $1,427.

Increasing doubts over the reliability of future Russian supplies and worries over Moscow's political and economic crisis helped the upward sentiment, traders said.

"Continuing concern over the Russian malaise combined with the strengthening yen fueled the gains," brokers Rudolf Wolff said in their daily report.

Despite recent strength in Asian currencies, traders in theregion said they remained cautious amid a continued lack of demand.

"Aluminium has been doing well this week, mainly because of the dollar/yen exchange rate. Fundamentally nothing much has changed," said an aluminium trader.

"I don't expect too much buying from Asia at this moment when stocks level is still high in Japan," the trader added.