METALS-London copper rises as dollar drifts lower

NEW DELHI, May 19 (Reuters) - Copper prices in London rose slightly on Monday following some weakness in the dollar, although U.S. President Donald Trump's renewed tariff threat checked gains.

Benchmark copper CMCU3 on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was up 0.2% at $9,465.5 a metric ton as of 0211 GMT.

The U.S. dollar trimmed a four-week gain in early Asian trade as markets digested a surprise downgrade of the U.S. government's credit rating and as lingering trade frictions weighed on sentiment. USD/

A weaker dollar makes greenback-priced commodities less expensive for buyers holding other currencies.

Meanwhile, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in television interviews on Sunday that Trump will impose tariffs at the rate he threatened last month on trading partners that do not negotiate in "good faith" on deals.

"Trump's volatile policymaking presents a persistent downside risk to our metal price forecasts in the coming months," said BMI, a unit of Fitch Solutions.

Among other London metals, aluminium CMAL3 fell 0.2% to $2,476.5 a ton, zinc CMZN3 eased 0.04% to $2,690.5, lead CMPB3 gained 0.3% to $2,005 and nickel CMNI3 shed 0.3% to $15,595. Tin CMSN3 added 0.5% to $32,965.

The most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) rose 0.8% to 77,690 yuan ($10,770.53) per ton.

SHFE aluminium SAFcv1 was down 0.2% to 20,110 yuan a ton, zinc SZNcv1 dropped 0.4% to 22,445 yuan, lead SPBcv1 dipped 0.3% to 16,885 yuan, nickel SNIcv1 fell 0.8% to 123,750 yuan, and tin SSNcv1 eased 0.2% to 264,860 yuan.

($1 = 7.2132 yuan)

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