METALS-London copper near 7-month lows on Cyprus concerns
SINGAPORE, March 20 (Reuters) - London copper held near seven-month lows on Wednesday as Cyprus' rejection of bailout terms fanned concerns contagion could spread across the euro zone, hurting the outlook for commodities demand from the region.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange edged down 0.20 percent to $7,515 a tonne by 0109 GMT, extending losses from the previous session. It touched a low of $7,495.40 earlier in the session, near Tuesday's trough of $7,486.25.
* LME copper is now down about 5 percent for the year.
* The most-traded July copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell by 0.67 percent to 54,670 yuan ($8,800) a tonne. It earlier touched 54,450 a tonne, lowest since August 2012.
* Cyprus overwhelmingly rejected a proposed levy on bank deposits as a condition for a European bailout on Tuesday, throwing international efforts to rescue the latest casualty of the euro zone debt crisis into disarray.
* Groundbreaking to build U.S. homes rose in February and permits for construction climbed to their highest level since 2008, signs the housing market recovery is gathering steam.
* Global investors are growingly confident about the economic and corporate outlook in the United States and Japan, while their growth expectations for China are deteriorating, a closely-watched fund managers' survey showed on Tuesday.
* Seventeen miners are trapped underground in a Polish copper mine after an earthquake caused a cave-in, a spokesman for mine operator KGHM said.
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MARKETS NEWS
* Asian shares extended losses on Wednesday and investors gave the euro a wide berth after the bailout deal for Cyprus was thrown into disarray.
* The euro was pinned near four-month lows against the U.S. dollar in Asia after Cyprus' rejection of bailout terms seemed to threaten default or even expulsion from the euro zone.
DATA/EVENTS: 1430 U.S. EIA petroleum status report Weekly ENERGYUSA 1800 U.S. Fed policy decision Dec USFOMC=ECI 2330 Japan Reuters Tankan DI Mar 2013 JPRTAN=ECI 2350 Japan Exports yy Feb 2013 JPEXPY=ECI
PRICES Base metals prices at 0109 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct Move YTD pct chgLME Cu 7515.00 -15.00 -0.20 -5.22SHFE CU FUT JUL3 54670 -370 -0.67 -5.22HG COPPER MAY3 340.15 -0.40 -0.12 -6.87LME Alum 1935.50 -1.00 -0.05 -6.54SHFE AL FUT JUN3 14665 -10 -0.07 -4.43LME Zinc 1920.00 -2.50 -0.13 -6.95SHFE ZN FUT JUN3 14860 -685 -4.41 -4.41LME Nickel 16605.00 70.00 +0.42 -3.21LME Lead 2170.75 0.75 +0.03 -7.23SHFE PB FUT 14490.00 -25.00 -0.17 -4.98LME Tin 22840.00 -10.00 -0.04 -2.39LME/Shanghai arb^ -101
Shanghai and COMEX contracts show most active months ($1 = 6.2157 Chinese yuan)
(Reporting by Melanie Burton; Editing by Himani Sarkar)