METALS-Copper steadies above $11,000 ahead of Fed meet, US-China talks

Oct 28 (Reuters) - Copper held above $11,000 per metric ton on Tuesday, after Monday's rally just missed a record high, with investors awaiting their cue from the U.S. Federal Reserve and talks between President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart.

Brokerages expect the Fed to trim its short-term borrowing rate by 25 basis points at its meeting ending on Wednesday, while Trump and Xi Jinping are set to meet on Thursday in South Korea, where they could seal a deal to ease trade tensions.

Benchmark three-month copper CMCU3 on the London Metal Exchange was trading flat at $11,029 as of 1705 GMT, having shrugged off a 1.5% drop earlier in the session that traders attributed to profit taking after Monday's gains.

The red metal touched $11,094 in the previous session, just short of its all-time peak of $11,104.50 as optimism over a trade deal added to concerns over disruption to mine supply.

Besides the Fed and the Trump-Xi meeting, the U.S. government shutdown is dragging on the dollar .DXY, Panmure Liberum analyst Tom Price said. A weaker greenback makes dollar-denominated metals more affordable for holders of other currencies.

"So there are three drivers that should take copper above the record again," Price said. "Even though I'm a bear on the longer-term outlook for copper, I think this might be a fairly buoyant few days."

LME copper stocks MCUSTX-TOTAL of 134,575 tons are the lowest since late July, but the cash LME copper contract had a $21.50 a ton discount to the three-month forward CMCU0-3, suggesting little need for immediate supply.

Among other metals, aluminium CMAL3 rose 0.6% to $2,891 a ton. It earlier hit $2,897, its highest since May 2022, after Rio Tinto RIO.AX warned that Australia's largest aluminium smelter may be forced to shut down.

Zinc CMZN3 nudged up 0.1% to $3,058 after notching up a two-week high, nickel CMNI3 added 0.2% to $15,305, lead CMPB3 was flat at $2,025, and tin CMSN3 jumped 1% to $36,340, after touching its highest since October 10.