BEIJING, March 27 (Reuters) - Most base metals prices
climbed on Tuesday, lifted by a rebound in equities on hopes
that a trade war between top metals consumer China and the
United States may be avoided.
Senior U.S. officials are asking China to cut tariffs on
imported cars, allow foreign majority ownership of financial
services firms and buy more U.S.-made semiconductors in
negotiations to avoid plans to slap tariffs on a host of Chinese
goods.
FUNDAMENTALS
* LME COPPER: Three-month copper on the London Metal
Exchange rose by 1.3 percent to $6,686 a tonne by 0212
GMT, having closed down 0.9 percent and touched a low of $6,532
on Monday, its weakest since early December.
* LME COPPER: Copper inventories in LME warehouses
MCUSTOX-TOTAL grew by 35,000 tonnes to 352,750 tonnes,
exchange data showed on Monday. On-warrant stocks have nearly
doubled this year and are at their most elevated since September
2016.
* SHFE COPPER: The most traded May contract on the
Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE) was up 0.3 percent at 49,680
yuan ($7,931.41) a tonne.
* CHILE: Workers at Antofagasta PLC's Los Pelambres
copper mine in Chile reached an agreement on a new labour
contract, defusing the risk of a strike, the union said on
Monday.
* USD: The U.S. dollar index was up 0.1 percent to
89.1, having hit a five-week low against a basket of major
currencies late on Monday. A weaker dollar makes metals cheaper
for holders of other currencies, supporting prices.
* ZINC: Zinc was trading up 0.8 percent at $3,285 a
tonne, having earlier touched a two-week high of $3,288. It was
up 1.5 percent in Shanghai after customs data on Monday
showed that China's zinc imports jumped by 151 percent in
February.
* COMEX: Hedge funds and money managers cut their net long
positions in COMEX gold and copper contracts in the week to
March 20, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data
showed on Friday.
