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

By Hongmei Li

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

The three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange CMCU3 shed 0.6% to $9,738 per metric ton by 0703 GMT, while the most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange SCFcv1 gained 0.3% to 78,880 yuan a ton ($10,975.22).

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, nickel CMNI3 ceded 0.1% to $15,400, aluminium CMAL3 eased 0.2% to $2,473 a metric ton, zinc CMZN3 slipped 0.3% to $2,642.5, and tin CMSN3 edged down 0.8% to $32,450, while lead CMPB3 gained 0.3% to $1,993.

Among SHFE metals, zinc SZNcv1 softened for a third trading day, losing 1.3% to 21,845 yuan a ton, the lowest since late April.

"China's domestic demand has shown signs of weakening recently, and buyers have been procuring to meet their immediate needs at lower prices possible," Shanghai-based commodity market research house SHMET said.

SHFE nickel SNIcv1 fell 1.1% to 121,390 yuan, aluminum SAFcv1 fell 0.1% to 19,980 yuan, while lead SPBcv1 gained 0.9% to 16,880 yuan and tin SSNcv1 was up 0.2% at 263,420 yuan.

($1 = 7.1871 Chinese yuan)

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