Hindalco Industries (up 3.21%), Jindal Steel & Power (up 2.93%), Sterlite Industries (up 2.76%), Sail (up 2.15%), Tata Steel (up 1.8%), Sesa Goa (up 1.78%), Hindustan Zinc (up 1.74%), JSW Steel (up 1.5%), NMDC (up 1.15%), Nalco (up 0.83%) and Bhushan Steel (up 0.34%), edged higher.

The BSE Metal index was up 2.11% at 10,646.51. It underperformed the Sensex, which was up 2.13% at 17,351.94.

The BSE Metal index had underperformed the market over the past one month until 28 June 2012, gaining 2.34% compared with the Sensex's 3.50% rise. The index had also underperformed the market in past one quarter, falling 5.37% as against 0.76% fall in the Sensex.

Copper rose on Friday, 29 June 2012, after European leaders agreed to create a single supervisory body for euro zone banks and allow them to be recapitalised without adding to government debt, easing fears of spiralling debt in Italy and Spain.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was up 1.4% at $7,491 per tonne, after losing 0.3% in the prior session. The most-active October copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose 1.5% to 55,010 yuan per tonne, after gaining 0.9% in the previous session.

Copper, used largely in power and construction, is considered a gauge of economic activity.