Copper up as quake hits output

SHANGHAI - Copper jumped the most in 11 months in New York after a magnitude-8.8 earthquake disrupted supplies from Chile, the world's largest producer.

Copper for May delivery gained as much as 20.3 cents, or 6.2 percent, to $3.4870 a pound, before trading at $3.3860 at 3 pm Beijing time, in after-hours electronic trading on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. That was the largest intraday gain for the most active contract since April. The metal jumped to the highest level in more than five weeks in London and by the limit in Shanghai.

The quake, which hit central Chile on Saturday morning, forced Codelco and Anglo American Plc to halt mine operations. Codelco said it would meet supply contracts with shipments from undamaged plants in Chile's north, where it has bigger mines. Copper represented half of Chile's $53 billion of exports last year.