Gains were limited as widespread lockdowns to curb the outbreak threatened the demand outlook for the metal used in construction, power and manufacturing. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) edged up 0.1% to $4,808.50 a tonne. Leaders of the group of 20 major economies on Thursday said they would “do whatever it takes to overcome the pandemic,” pledging to inject over $5 trillion into the global economy to limit job and income losses. Profits earned by industrial firms in China, the world’s biggest consumer of copper, slid 38.3% year-on-year to 410.7 billion yuan ($58.09 billion) in the first two months, official data showed.  LME aluminium rose 0.8% to $1,548 a tonne, lead advanced 1% to $1,702 a tonne. The most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE) fell 0.4% to 38,920 yuan a tonne, tracking losses in London overnight, while ShFE lead was up 1.5% to 13,785 yuan a tonne. South Africa’s main export terminals will close to mineral exports from midnight, when a nationwide 21-day lockdown begins, disrupting copper and cobalt supplies from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia.