METALS-Copper pauses after rallying on U.S. fiscal deal
SINGAPORE, Jan 3 (Reuters) - Copper edged down on Thursday, taking a pause from the rally in the previous session when U.S. lawmakers reached a last-minute deal to prevent the world's top economy from slipping into another recession.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange edged down 0.2 percent to $8,193 a tonne by 0108 GMT, after jumping 3.5 percent in the previous session, its biggest daily gain in more than three months.
* The Shanghai market remains closed on Thursday for a public holiday, and will resume trading on Friday. President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans face even bigger budget battles in the next two months after a hard-fought "fiscal cliff" deal narrowly averted devastating tax hikes and spending cuts.
* Manufacturing in the United States and China grew in December, suggesting the global economy was on course for moderate growth this year, even as the euro zone looked set to sink deeper into recession.
* LME copper stocks <MCUSTX-TOTAL> rose to an 11-month high of 320,500 tonnes by Dec. 31. Nickel stockpile <MNISTX-TOTAL> climbed to 141,690 tonnes, the highest since May, 2010.
* For the top stories in metals and other news, click , or
MARKETS NEWS
* U.S. stocks kicked off the new year with their best day in over a year on Wednesday, sparked by relief over a last-minute deal in Washington to avert the "fiscal cliff" of tax hikes and spending cuts that threatened to derail the economy's growth.
* The dollar traded steady against a basket of currencies on Thursday, after dropping to a near two-week low in the previous session as the U.S. fiscal deal shaved off the safe-haven appeal of the greenback.
DATA/EVENTS (GMT)
0855 Germany Unemployment rate sa Dec 2012
0900 EZ Money-M3 3m moving av Nov 2012 1330 U.S. Jobless claims Weekly
PRICES Base metals prices at 0108 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct Move YTD pct chg LME Cu 8193.00 -17.00 -0.21 3.33 HG COPPER MAR3 373.25 -0.35 -0.09 2.19 LME Alum 2160.00 0.00 +0.00 4.30 LME Zinc 2144.00 3.00 +0.14 3.90 LME Nickel 17616.00 -109.00 -0.61 2.69 LME Lead 2430.00 0.00 +0.00 3.85 LME Tin 24445.00 0.00 +0.00 4.47
COMEX contract shows most active month
(Reporting by Rujun Shen; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)