METALS-Copper steady; US fiscal talk uncertainty weighs
SINGAPORE, Dec 5 (Reuters) - London copper opened steady on Wednesday, easing from a six-month high hit in the previous session as a deadlock in U.S. budget talks pressured sentiment.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was little changed at $8,027 a tonne by 0101 GMT, after rising to a six-week high of $8,068 in the previous session.
* The most-traded March copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange inched up 0.3 percent to 57,520 yuan ($9,200) a tonne.
* President Barack Obama held his ground on the "fiscal cliff" on Tuesday, insisting on higher tax rates for the wealthiest Americans, while Republicans showed increasing disarray over how far they should go to compromise with Obama's demands.
* China's copper smelters are lowering expectations for 2013 term treatment and refining charges from global miners after getting a flat offer from BHP Billiton , for concentrates from the world's top mine, industry sources said on Tuesday.
* LME copper cash-to-three-month spread <MCU0-3> stood at a contango of $21.16 a tonne, its widest since mid-February, suggesting sluggish consumption.
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MARKETS NEWS
* U.S. stocks finished slightly lower in a quiet session on Tuesday as the back-and-forth wrangling over the "fiscal cliff" gave investors little reason to act.
* The euro hovered at seven-week highs against the greenback on Wednesday but struggled against the Australian dollar, which gained broadly as investors brushed aside a cut in interest rates to focus on its still relatively high yield.
DATA/EVENTS
0858 Euro zone Markit Services PMI Nov 1000 Euro zone Retail sales Oct 1315 U.S. ADP employment report Nov 1500 U.S. ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI Nov 1500 U.S. Durable goods orders Oct 1500 U.S. Factory orders Oct
PRICES
Base metals prices at 0101 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct Move YTD pct chg LME Cu 8027.00 -3.00 -0.04 5.62 SHFE CU FUT MAR3 57520 240 +0.42 3.90 HG COPPER MAR3 366.10 0.55 +0.15 6.55 LME Alum 2092.00 -2.00 -0.10 3.56 SHFE AL FUT FEB3 15380 -15 -0.10 -2.93 LME Zinc 2022.50 0.00 +0.00 9.62 SHFE ZN FUT MAR3 15380 10 +0.07 3.95 LME Nickel 17505.00 0.00 +0.00 -6.44 LME Lead 2233.25 1.75 +0.08 9.74 SHFE PB FUT 0.00 -15300.00 -100.00 -100.00 LME Tin 21825.00 0.00 +0.00 13.67 LME/Shanghai arb^ 986
Shanghai and COMEX contracts show most active months ($1 = 6.2256 Chinese yuan)
(Reporting by Rujun Shen; Editing by Richard Pullin)