METALS-Most London metals down on caution ahead of US-China trade talks

SHANGHAI, May 7 (Reuters) - Prices of most metals in London were down on Wednesday as investors' caution about the outcome of an upcoming meeting between key U.S. and Chinese trade officials outweighed optimism about Beijing's economic stimulus efforts.

Benchmark copper CMCU3 on the London Metal Exchange (LME) declined 0.6% to $9,477.5 a metric ton as of 0712 GMT.

The planned meeting between U.S. and Chinese officials this weekend in Switzerland comes after months of escalating tensions that pushed trade duties between the world's two largest economies well beyond 100%.

And while the two sides are expected to discuss easing both broader tariffs and those on specific products, traders prefer to wait and watch.

"The result of the trade negotiations remains unclear, we cannot assume a favorable outcome," a trader said.

On Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump said he and top administration officials will review potential trade deals over the next two weeks to decide which ones to accept.

Meanwhile, to support the economy amidst the trade war, China's central bank said it would, for the first time in 2025, cut the reserve requirement ratio for banks by 50 basis points, unleashing about 1 trillion yuan in liquidity.

In other London metals, aluminium CMAL3 lost 1.2% to $2,398 a ton, zinc CMZN3 lost 0.6% to $2,623, lead CMPB3 rose 0.4% to $1,931, tin CMSN3 was down 0.6% to $31,810 and nickel CMNI3 was flat at $15,705 a ton.

The most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) rose 0.2% to 77,790 yuan ($10,761.63) per ton, with support from rapidly falling stocks monitored by the SHFE.

SHFE aluminium SAFcv1 lost 2.0% to 19,465 yuan a ton, zinc SZNcv1 fell 0.9% to 22,210 yuan, lead SPBcv1 was up 0.1% to 16,700 yuan, nickel SNIcv1 fell 0.1% to 124,450 yuan and tin SSNcv1 was up 0.4% to 261,230 yuan.

($1 = 7.2266 Chinese yuan)

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