METALS-Copper rebounds as bargain hunters eye seasonal uptick
SINGAPORE, March 4 (Reuters) - London copper rebounded from a three-month low on Monday on bargain hunting ahead of seasonal second-quarter strength, but worries about China's latest property curbs and U.S. spending cuts kept a lid on prices.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange rallied 0.67 percent to $7,751.50 a tonne by 0112 GMT, partly reversing losses from the previous session.
* Copper fell to its lowest in more than three months on Friday at $7,652 a tonne, hurt by worries about China's growth and U.S. spending, having shed more than four percent over February. The metal erased its gains for the year.
* The most-traded June copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell 0.39 percent to 56,690 yuan ($9,100) a tonne. It earlier slipped to its lowest in three months at 56,550, catching up with copper's Friday losses.
* China could increase required downpayments and loan rates for buyers of second homes in cities where prices are rising too quickly, the State Council said on Friday in the central government's latest move to contain housing costs.
* China is set to use swelling offshore holdings of its tightly-managed currency worth around 1 trillion yuan ($160 billion) to justify a landmark shift in tactics to relax capital controls.
* President Barack Obama raised anew the issue of cutting entitlements such as Medicare and Social Security as a way out of damaging budget cuts, a White House official said on Sunday, as both sides in Washington tried to limit a fiscal crisis that may soon hit millions of Americans.
* Russia's United Company RUSAL Plc, the world's largest aluminium producer, reported a 63 percent fall in 2012 adjusted EBITDA on Monday, weighed down by weak aluminium prices and unfavourable market conditions
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MARKETS NEWS
* Asian shares eased on Monday, with sentiment hurt by a patchy global growth outlook and weak data from Europe, but losses were limited as robust U.S. economic figures overshadowed worries about automatic spending cuts hurting the U.S. economy.
* Wide-ranging U.S. spending cuts that automatically kicked in on Friday and threatened to dampen economic growth did little to diminish a U.S. dollar rally which was aided by upbeat economic data.
DATA/EVENTS (GMT) 0930 Euro zone Sentix index 1000 Euro zone Producer prices 1445 U.S. ISM-New York business index PRICES Base metals prices at 0112 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct Move YTD pct chg LME Cu 7751.50 51.50 +0.67 -2.24 SHFE CU FUT JUN3 56690 -220 -0.39 -1.72 HG COPPER MAY3 352.00 1.90 +0.54 -3.63 LME Alum 1974.75 -0.25 -0.01 -4.65 SHFE AL FUT JUN3 14725 -35 -0.24 -4.04 LME Zinc 2033.00 12.00 +0.59 -1.48 SHFE ZN FUT JUN3 15480 -65 -0.42 -0.42 LME Nickel 16739.00 134.00 +0.81 -2.42 LME Lead 2257.00 13.00 +0.58 -3.55 SHFE PB FUT 0.00 -14985.00 -100.00 -100.00 LME Tin 23250.00 0.00 +0.00 -0.64 LME/Shanghai arb^ -206
Shanghai and COMEX contracts show most active months
($1 = 6.2237 Chinese yuan)
(Reporting by Melanie Burton; Editing by Richard Pullin)