METALS-Copper treads water, U.S. fiscal cliff worries cap gains
SINGAPORE, Dec 17 (Reuters) - London copper was steady on Monday, consolidating from a five-week winning streak on signs of reviving growth momentum in top consumer China, but protracted wrangling over the U.S. "fiscal cliff" kept a ceiling on prices.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was trading at $8,057 a tonne by 0127 GMT, down 0.1 percent from the previous session when it closed little changed, but locked-in a fifth straight week of gains.
* Copper hit its highest in nearly two months at $8,162 on Dec 12 and has advanced around six percent since mid-November.
* The most-traded March copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange slipped 0.29 percent to 57,670 yuan a tonne.
* U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner's offer to accept a tax rate increase for the wealthiest Americans knocks down a key Republican road block to a deal resolving the year-end "fiscal cliff".
* China will maintain steady economic polices in 2013, leaving room for manoeuvre in the face of global risks while deepening reforms to support long-term growth, the official Xinhua news agency said after an annual policy-setting conference on Sunday.
* Hedge funds and money managers raised their bullish bets on copper to their highest level since mid-October after a rally in prices, according to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's Commitments of Traders report on Friday.
* Workers at the giant Chuquicamata mine of Chile's state-run copper firm Codelco said on Saturday they have accepted a wage offer with the company.
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MARKETS NEWS
* The Liberal Democratic Party of Japan's electoral triumph propelled the yen to a 20-month low that saw the Nikkei stock average . open up 1.6 percent on expectations of much better export earnings.
DATA/EVENTS N/A - SWEDEN CENTRAL BANK TO START TWO DAY MEETING 0900 - ITALY TRADE BALANCE FOR OCTOBER 1000 - EURO ZONE TRADE DATA FOR 1000 - EURO ZONE LABOR COSTS FOR THIRD QUARTER 1330 - NEW YORK FED EMPIRE STATE SURVEY FOR DECEMBER 1400 - U.S. NET CAP FLOWS/FOREIGN TREASURY BUYS FOR OCTOBER 1600 - FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD GOVERNOR STEIN SPEAKS, Frankfurt, German 1800 - FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF RICHMOND PRESIDENT LACKER SPEAKS, Charlotte, PRICES
Base metals prices at 0127 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct Move YTD pct chg LME Cu 8057.00 -8.00 -0.10 6.01 SHFE CU FUT MAR3 57670 -170 -0.29 4.17 HG COPPER MAR3 367.20 -1.10 -0.30 6.87 LME Alum 2120.00 -2.00 -0.09 4.95 SHFE AL FUT MAR3 15430 05 +0.03 -2.62 LME Zinc 2089.50 -0.50 -0.02 13.25 SHFE ZN FUT MAR3 15590 35 +0.23 5.37 LME Nickel 17839.00 -36.00 -0.20 -4.66 LME Lead 2300.00 4.00 +0.17 13.02 SHFE PB FUT 15320.00 -30.00 -0.20 0.23 LME Tin 23000.00 -150.00 -0.65 19.79 LME/Shanghai arb^ 1252
Shanghai and COMEX contracts show most active months
(Reporting by Melanie Burton; Editing by Joseph Radford)