METALS-Copper slips in holiday trade, but China outlook supports
SINGAPORE, Feb 11 (Reuters) - London copper edged down on Monday as the Lunar New Year holiday in much of Asia drained liquidity from the market, but prices were underpinned by robust Chinese trade data last week that showed demand growth reviving in the world's top metals consumer.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange had slipped 0.17 percent to $8,281 a tonne by 0143 GMT, from the previous session when it finished up more than 1 percent. Copper last week hit its highest since Sept. 20 at $8,346 a tonne, buoyed by prospects for improving China demand.
* The Shanghai Futures Exchange is closed this week for the Lunar New Year.
* With the road ahead looking a bit smoother, G20 finance ministers will be happy to ignore the wreck in the rear-view mirror when they meet this week to steer a course for the world economy.
* China's exports and imports surged and new lending soared in January as the first hard data of the year signalled not only a solid recovery in domestic and overseas demand, but also the risk that inflationary pressures are building.
* The U.S. economy likely expanded slightly in the fourth quarter as higher exports and a slump in oil imports narrowed the trade gap, suggesting a surprise drop in economic output reported last week was overstated.
* For the top stories in metals and other news, click , or
MARKETS NEWS
* The euro dipped to a two-week low in Asia on Monday, continuing to pull back from 15-month highs following what markets perceived as slightly dovish comments from the European Central Bank and political uncertainty in Italy and Spain.
* Oil and equities dawdled on Monday near multi-month highs scaled after the Chinese trade data last week.
DATA/EVENTS 0745 France industrial output for December PRICES
Base metals prices at 0143 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct Move YTD pct chg LME Cu 8281.25 -13.75 -0.17 4.44 SHFE CU FUT MAY3 -- -- -- -- HG COPPER MAR3 376.25 0.30 +0.08 3.01 LME Alum 2122.25 3.25 +0.15 2.47 SHFE AL FUT MAY3 -- -- -- -- LME Zinc 2205.50 0.50 +0.02 6.88 SHFE ZN FUT MAY3 -- -- -- -- LME Nickel 18315.00 0.00 +0.00 6.76 LME Lead 2430.00 8.00 +0.33 3.85 SHFE PB FUT -- -- -- -- LME Tin 24850.00 0.00 +0.00 6.20 LME/Shanghai arb^ --
Shanghai and COMEX contracts show most active months
(Reporting by Melanie Burton; Editing by Joseph Radford)