METALS-Copper steadies as rising stock, weak demand caps rebound

Feb 10 (Reuters) - Copper was range-bound on Tuesday, as rising stocks and sluggish demand continued to test investors' risk appetite for the red metal as the dollar weakens.

The most-active copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange SCFcv1 added 0.54% to 102,060 yuan ($14,770.54) a metric ton as of 0255 GMT.

The benchmark three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange CMCU3, however, dipped 0.18% to $13,152.50 a ton.

The U.S. dollar =USD continued to weaken for a third consecutive session, supporting commodities denominated by the greenback by making them more affordable for investors using other currencies.

However, copper has been under pressure from rising inventories in warehouses registered with major exchanges, as well as weak demand in the run-up to China's nine-day Lunar New Year break, which begins on February 15 and when economic activity stalls.

Despite persistent longer-term supply constraints, copper prices are expected to stay range-bound, analysts at Chinese brokerage GF Futures said in a note.

Demand has eased after Chinese downstream buyers wrapped up pre–Lunar New Year restocking, while visible inventories are rising globally and the COMEX–LME premium is narrowing, the GF Futures analysts said.

The LME copper stocks MCUSTX-TOTAL have been built up to 184,300 tons as of Friday, up from just 137,225 tons on January 9. Copper stocks in SHFE sheds CU-STX-SGH registered a nine-week gain on Friday to 248,911 tons.

Meanwhile, the Comex copper inventories HG-STX-COMEX continued to climb to a record 535,430 tons.

The Yangshan copper premium SMM-CUYP-CN, a gauge of Chinese demand for imported copper, was at $38 a ton from $20 earlier. It is still low compared with above $50 in late December, indicating weak demand in China.

Among other SHFE base metals, tin SSNcv1 soared 4.21%, lead SPBcv1 rose 1.27%, and nickel SNIcv1 was little changed, up only 0.08%. Aluminium SAFcv1 dipped 0.11% and zinc SZNcv1 dropped 0.26%.

Elsewhere on the LME, tin CMSN3 climbed 0.87%, zinc CMZN3 added 0.19%, while lead CMPB3 gained 0.56%. Aluminium CMAL3 dropped 0.27% and nickel CMNI3 shed 0.46%.

Tuesday, February 10

DATA/EVENTS (GMT)

1330 US Import Prices YY Dec

1330 US Retail Sales MM Dec

($1 = 6.9097 Chinese yuan renminbi)