METALS-London copper prices ease slightly, US-China talks in focus

By Hongmei Li

SINGAPORE, June 10 (Reuters) - London copper prices saw marginal easing on Tuesday, with the market closely watching the progress made in the ongoing trade talks between the world's two largest economies in London.

The three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange CMCU3 shed 0.3% to $9,761.5 per metric ton by 0101 GMT, while the most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange SCFcv1 gained 0.6% to 79,160 yuan a ton ($11,024.76).

The U.S.-China trade talks are set to run into a second day on Tuesday, as Washington and Beijing aim to ease a bitter dispute that has widened from tariffs to rare earth curbs, threatening a global supply chain shock and economic slowdown.

"The Trump administration is prepared to remove a recent spate of measures targeting ship design software, jet engine parts, chemicals and nuclear materials. The apparent cooling of trade brinkmanship sparked optimism across markets. This helped offset concerns that the trade war is taking a heavy toll on economic activity," ANZ said.

Copper stocks MCUSTX-TOTAL in LME-registered warehouses fell 10,000 tons on Monday to 122,400 tons, suggesting that the shipment to the U.S. has been continuing amid the potential threat of U.S. tariffs on copper imports.

Among other LME metals, aluminium CMAL3 eased 0.2% to $2,473.5 a metric ton, zinc CMZN3 slipped 0.1% to $2,647, tin CMSN3 fell 0.3% to $32,605, and nickel CMNI3 ceded 0.4% to $15,355.

Zinc SZNcv1 continued to soften, losing 1.2% to 21,870 yuan, nickel SNIcv1 fell 0.9% to 121,640 yuan a ton, while lead SPBcv1 gained 0.8% to 16,860 yuan and tin SSNcv1 gained 0.3% to 263,550 yuan among other SHFE metals.

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DATA/EVENTS (GMT)

0600 UK Claimant Count Unem Chng May

0600 UK ILO Unemployment Rate April

0600 UK HMRC Payrolls Change May

($1 = 7.1802 Chinese yuan)

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