Copper closed $30 higher at $7,485/mt on the LME.

"The China news certainly spooked a lot of investors yesterday on concerns they are trying to slow their economy down," said Tom Hartman, broker with Altavest Worldwide Trading in Mission Viejo, California.

"Longer-term, I think it is helpful that they are trying to suppress any type of bubble action in the economy ... It's not a bad move to try and keep things in check and have more of a sustained growth," Hartman said.

"China story is the main thing today, but euro/dollar's gaining some ground and it's helping," said Andrey Kryuchenkov, analyst at VTB Capital.

"Demand in the western countries, while improving, is still not that strong to justify continued price advances, and most disturbingly for the bulls, LME inventories continue to rise, particularly in copper's case," analyst Edward Meir at MF Global said in a research note.

Aluminium was $2,294 after touching a two-week low of $2,230/mt.

Zinc was at $2,489 from $2,476. Lead was at $2,480 from $2,432. Tin traded at $18,000 from $17,895. Nickel closed at $18,300 from $17,700.