METALS-Shanghai copper rangebound as rising inventories, weak demand offset dollar

Feb 10 (Reuters) - Shanghai copper was rangebound on Tuesday, as rising inventories and sluggish demand ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday offset a weaker U.S. dollar.

The most-active copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange SCFcv1 closed daytime trading up 0.05% at 101,560 yuan ($14,695.41) a metric ton. It rose as much as 0.98% earlier in the session.

The benchmark three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange CMCU3, meanwhile, declined 0.76% to $13,076 a ton as of 0700 GMT, after declining as much as 0.89%.

The U.S. dollar =USD continued to weaken on Tuesday, making greenback-priced commodities more affordable to other currency holders.

Copper has been under pressure from rising inventories in warehouses registered with major exchanges, alongside weak demand in the run-up to China's nine-day Lunar New Year break, starting February 15, when economic activity stalls.

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

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

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

Meanwhile, 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 compared to $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 3.33%, lead SPBcv1 rose 0.60%. Aluminium SAFcv1 dipped 0.30%, zinc SZNcv1 dropped 0.53% and nickel SNIcv1 shed 0.19%.

Elsewhere on the LME, tin CMSN3 climbed 0.11%, lead CMPB3 was up 0.03%. Aluminium CMAL3 dropped 0.62%, zinc CMZN3 dipped 0.25% and nickel CMNI3 shed 0.63%.

($1 = 6.9110 Chinese yuan renminbi)