BUZZ-Copper miners up despite weak demand forecast

** Shares of copper miners up, tracking prices of the red metal

** Benchmark three-month copper CMCU3 on the London Metal Exchange (LME) up 0.1% at $8,776.50 a metric ton, as of 1640 GMT (11:40 a.m. ET), having touched $8,757 a metric ton on Tuesday, its lowest price since Aug. 8

** Copper prices hover near five-month lows as expectations of deteriorating demand were reinforced by weak manufacturing activity around the world

** U.S. dollar firms .DXY, resuming a climb that has weighed on metal prices since the end of September; a stronger U.S. currency makes dollar-priced metals more expensive for buyers holding other currencies

** U.S.-listed shares of global mining giants Rio Tinto RIO.N and BHP Group BHP.N are both up marginally

** Copper miners Southern Copper SCCO.N and Freeport-McMoRan FCX.N up 1.9% and 1%, respectively

** Canadian miners Ero Copper ERO.TO rises 2.9%, First Quantum Minerals FM.TO up 2.8% and Hudbay Minerals HBM.TO rises 4.8%

** HBM also receives air quality permit for the Copper World project from the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality

(Reporting by Pooja Menon in Bengaluru)

((Pooja.Menon@thomsonreuters.com;))