BEIJING, Dec 11 (Reuters) - London base metals recouped some
of previous session's losses on Tuesday, lifted by a weaker
dollar, although ongoing Sino-U.S. trade friction kept gains
below 1 percent.
A weaker greenback makes dollar-denominated metals cheaper
for holders of other currencies and can support prices.
All five key London base metals are on track to post a
yearly drop in 2018, with copper and zinc both down more than 20
percent year-to-date on concerns the trade friction will hurt
demand.
"Negative market sentiment stemming from the U.S.-China
dispute has outweighed tight fundamentals for base metals,"
Fitch Solutions said in a 2019 commodities outlook, noting that
stocks at London Metal Exchange warehouses continued to fall.
FUNDAMENTALS
* COPPER: Three-month LME copper was up 0.7 percent
at $6,130 a tonne, by 0418 GMT, after shedding 0.9 percent in
the previous session. The most-traded February copper contract
on the Shanghai Futures Exchange inched up 0.1 percent
to 49,120 yuan ($7,146.49) a tonne by the end of the morning.
* TRADE: China and the United States discussed the road map
for the next stage of their trade talks on Tuesday, during a
telephone call between Chinese Vice Premier Liu He and U.S.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Trade Representative
Robert Lighthizer.
* CHILE: Chilean copper production rose by 6 percent
year-on-year in January-October to 4.74 million tonnes due to
the stronger performance of BHP's Escondida mine, but state
copper miner Codelco posted a 3.4 percent drop in output to 1.45
million tonnes.
* VEDANTA: India's environmental court on Monday said it
will issue its judgment in a week on whether to allow Vedanta
Ltd to re-open its copper smelter, which was closed
earlier this year after 13 people died when police fired on
protesters.
* OTHER METALS: LME aluminium, zinc and lead
added around 0.5 percent as the dollar index
edged 0.1 percent lower to 97.110. At one stage in overnight
trade it had fallen to 96.364, its lowest since Nov. 22, driven
by a growing view that the Federal Reserve could pause its rate
hike cycle sooner than previously thought.
