METALS-Strong dollar keeps metals' gains in check

By Violet Li and Mei Mei Chu

SHANGHAI, Jan 3 (Reuters) - Most base metals edged up within tight ranges on Friday, influenced by mixed macroeconomic data from China and the United States, but gains were limited by a stronger U.S. dollar.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) had inched up 0.1% to $8,813.5 per metric ton as of 0151 GMT.

The most-traded January copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) SCFcv1 dropped 0.3% to 73,070 yuan ($10,010.41) a ton.

On Friday, the dollar was poised for its best weekly performance in over a month, fueled by expectations of slow U.S. interest rate cuts after a larger-than-expected drop in weekly jobless claims.

A stronger dollar makes it more expensive for holders of other currencies to buy greenback-priced commodities.

"The dollar remains strong; downward pressure on copper prices persist," analysts at Jinrui Futures said in a note.

In China, the Caixin/S&P Global manufacturing PMI nudged down to 50.5 in December from 51.5 the previous month, falling short of the market expectation of 51.7, suggesting a slowed pace of expansion.

LME aluminium CMAl3 was relatively unchanged at $2,530 a ton, nickel CMNI3 rose 0.2% to $15,100, zinc CMZN3 lost 0.1% to $2,923, tin CMSN3 gained 0.3% to $28,650, while lead CMPB3 was 0.1% higher at $1,935.

SHFE aluminium SAFcv1 was down 0.3% to 19,830 yuan a ton, nickel SNIcv1 fell 1.5% to 122,530 yuan, zinc SZNcv1 retreated 2.3% to 24,630 yuan, lead SPBcv1 dropped 0.4% to 16,755 yuan, and tin SSNcv1 edged down 0.6% to 242,570 yuan.

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($1 = 7.2994 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Violet Li and Mei Mei Chu; Editing by Savio D'Souza)

((Violet.Li@thomsonreuters.com;))

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