METALS-London copper bounces from 3-week lows on rising risk appetite
SINGAPORE, Feb 20 (Reuters) - London copper climbed on Wednesday from three-week lows hit the session before as merger activity in the United States and strong German business morale boosted stock markets and stoked risk appetite.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange rose 0.50 percent to $8,090 a tonne by 0131 GMT, reversing losses of nearly 1 percent in the previous session when it hit a three-week low of $8,038 a tonne.
* The most-traded May copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange slipped 0.20 percent to 58,770 yuan ($9,400) a tonne.
* Office Depot Inc, the No. 2 U.S. office supply retailer, and smaller rival OfficeMax Inc are said to be in advanced merger talks.
* Miner BHP Billiton appointed the head of its non-ferrous business as its new chief executive on Wednesday to replace Marius Kloppers, as it reported an expected 43 percent drop in half-year profit.
* President Barack Obama renewed pressure on congressional Republicans to head off budget cuts that are due to begin on March 1, staging a White House appearance with emergency workers to illustrate jobs he said were at risk.
* Optimism that the worst of the euro zone debt crisis is over has helped German investor and analyst sentiment soar to its highest level in nearly three years this month.
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MARKETS NEWS
* Asian shares edged higher on Wednesday, buoyed by rising global equities overnight on an improving global economic outlook, while the yen resumed its decline.
DATA/EVENTS (GMT) 0700 Germany Producer prices 0745 France Business climate index 0900 Italy Industrial orders 1245 U.S. ICSC weekly chain store sales 1330 U.S. Building permits 1330 U.S. Housing starts 1330 U.S. Producer prices 1500 U.S. Consumer confidence 1900 Federal Open Market Committee issues minutes from its Jan. 29-30 meeting 2130 U.S. API weekly crude stocks PRICES
Base metals prices at 0131 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct Move YTD pct chg LME Cu 8090.00 40.00 +0.50 2.03 SHFE CU FUT MAY3 58770 -120 -0.20 1.89 HG COPPER MAR3 366.65 1.70 +0.47 0.38 LME Alum 2119.00 8.00 +0.38 2.32 SHFE AL FUT MAY3 15120 05 +0.03 -1.47 LME Zinc 2157.00 2.00 +0.09 4.53 SHFE ZN FUT MAY3 15855 310 +1.99 1.99 LME Nickel 17501.00 111.00 +0.64 2.02 LME Lead 2387.00 12.00 +0.51 2.01 SHFE PB FUT 15410.00 -20.00 -0.13 1.05 LME Tin 23905.00 0.00 +0.00 2.16 LME/Shanghai arb^ 332
Shanghai and COMEX contracts show most active months ($1 = 6.2443 Chinese yuan)
(Reporting by Melanie Burton; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)