MELBOURNE, Jan 8 (Reuters) - London copper edged away from its lowest in a fortnight on Monday but remained not far from a
four-year high, as traders filtered back from holidays and adjusted to a softer dollar and resilient Chinese demand. FUNDAMENTALS:
* London Metal Exchange copper traded at $7,130 a tonne by 0223 GMT, up a modest 0.1 percent from Friday, when prices corrected to the lowest in two weeks at $7,107. Prices on
Dec. 28 topped out at $7,312.50 a tonne, the highest since Jan 2014. * Shanghai Futures Exchange copper traded down 0.9 percent at 54,570 yuan ($8,428) a tonne, having reached the
lowest since Dec. 25. * M&A: Coal and iron ore dominated mining takeovers in 2017, Thomson Reuters data shows, with buyers favouring the heavily
polluting devil they know over the uncertainties of a battery-powered future. * UPCOMING: Data in the week ahead will enable investors to
gauge the strength of German and British industry, U.S. spending and Chinese trade at the end of last year - and the first hints
on the strength of economic activity at the start of 2018. * ZINC: LME cash zinc is trading at a $26 premium to the benchmark contract CMZN0-3 up from a $10 discount on Dec. 12.
Traders suggested the backwardation has encouraged deliveries into SHFE warehouses, where stocks have climbed around 10,000 tonnes since late December. ZN-STX-SGH
* LEAD: A very big short position holder has emerged in lead futures, at 20-29 pct of outstanding positions for February, rising to 30-39 pct for March <0#LME-FBR>. There is also a
significant holder of lead warrants, holding 40-50 pct of LME stocks, which suggests an impending tussle. * U.S. INTEREST RATES: Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland
President Loretta Mester said on Friday she expects roughly four interest-rate hikes this year, as U.S. economic growth picks up
and unemployment remains low. * U.S. ECONOMY: New orders for U.S.-made goods increased in November, but business spending on equipment appeared to be
cooling after robust growth in 2017. * CHINA PAYMENTS: China will encourage companies to increase their use of yuan for settling cross-border trade deals.
* CHINA ECONOMY: A blizzard of data in coming weeks is expected to show China's economy ended a strong 2017 on a slightly softer note, but activity has likely remained more
resilient than expected despite a punishing crackdown on industrial pollution and a cooling property market.
