METALS-Copper steady in holiday-thinned trade, China outlook supports
SINGAPORE, Feb 12 (Reuters) - London copper was stuck in a holding pattern on Tuesday with traders reluctant to take big positions due to a week-long holiday in top consumer China, while brightening economic prospects there and in the United States underpinned prices.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was little changed at $8,196 a tonne by 0104 GMT, after falling more than 1 percent in the previous session.
* Copper last week rallied to its highest in four months at $8,346 a tonne. Although gains have petered off, prices are still up more than 3 percent so far this year.
* The Shanghai Futures Exchange is closed this week for the Lunar New Year.
* The Federal Reserve's aggressive easing of monetary policy is warranted given the still-battered state of the U.S. labour market, Fed Vice Chairwoman Janet Yellen said on Monday.
* The Group of Seven nations are considering a statement this week reaffirming their commitment to "market-determined" exchange rates in response to heating rhetoric about a currency war, G20 officials said on Monday.
* Global mining companies are set to unveil their biggest falls in profit in more than a decade and are clearing the decks with multibillion-dollar writedowns on poorly performing assets as they bring in new chief executives.
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MARKETS NEWS
* The yen hovered near fresh lows against the dollar and Japanese stocks jumped on Tuesday after a U.S. official voiced support for Japan's drive to beat deflation, assuaging fears that criticism of its aggressive stance on monetary policy would mount.
* Asian shares were steady, with many regional bourses shut for holidays. Encouraging data from China late last week was lending support, but markets lacked momentum as investors await key events such as the U.S. president's State of the Union address.
DATA/EVENTS (GMT)
0500 Japan Consumer confid. index Jan 2013 JPCONI=ECI 1245 U.S. ICSC chain stores yy Weekly USUBSY=ECI 1900 U.S. Federal budget,$ Jan USGDEF=ECI 2130 U.S. API weekly crude stocks Weekly USOIAC=ECI 2130 U.S. API weekly dist. stocks Weekly USOIAD=ECI 2130 U.S. API weekly gasoline stk Weekly USOIAG=ECI N/A India Industrial Output yy Dec 2012 INIP=ECI
PRICES
Base metals prices at 0104 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct Move YTD pct chg LME Cu 8196.00 -3.00 -0.04 3.37 SHFE CU FUT MAY3 -- -- -- -- HG COPPER MAR3 372.25 0.00 +0.00 1.92 LME Alum 2102.75 -0.25 -0.01 1.53 SHFE AL FUT MAY3 -- -- -- -- LME Zinc 2191.00 -1.00 -0.05 6.18 SHFE ZN FUT MAY3 -- -- -- -- LME Nickel 18175.00 0.00 +0.00 5.95 LME Lead 2388.00 0.00 +0.00 2.05 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)