METALS-LME copper, aluminium ease in thin China holiday trade

By Ishaan Arora

Feb 16 (Reuters) - London copper dipped on Monday, while aluminium eased for a third straight session, as low-volume trade weighed on prices.

The Shanghai Futures Exchange is closed for the Lunar New Year holiday that began on February 15. Trading will resume on February 24.

The benchmark three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange CMCU3 edged down 0.2% to $12,847.0 a ton as of 0752 GMT, having dropped to a one-week low on Friday.

Participation during this week in Asian markets is expected to be thin as quite a few countries are observing the Lunar New Year holiday almost simultaneously for the entire week, said Jigar Trivedi, senior research analyst, IndusInd Securities.

"It is (more so) today as the U.S. is also on holiday," said Trivedi, referring to the Presidents' Day holiday.

LME copper may retest a support at $12,578 a metric ton this week, a break below which could trigger a drop into $11,545-$12,116 range, Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao said on Monday. TECH/C

Copper stocks on the world's three biggest metal exchanges have exceeded 1 million metric tons for the first time in more than two decades, due to soft China demand and U.S. stockpiling.

China's factory activity faltered in January as weak domestic demand dragged down production at the start of the new year, an official survey showed on January 31.

Meanwhile, aluminium CMAL3 eased 0.1% to $3,073.0, having dropped to a one-week low on Friday after a report that U.S. President Donald Trump plans to scale back some tariffs on steel and aluminium goods.

"The concerns surrounding U.S. tariffs on aluminium products have been ignored as of now. On LME, aluminium is trading around $3,000, so long as it holds this support, the metal will experience a bounce-back," Trivedi said.

LME nickel CMNI3 lost 0.2% to $16,940/ton, hovering just above more than one-week lows. Nickel stocks on the exchange were also up 702 tons.

Zinc CMZN3 inched 0.3% lower to $3,332.50 and lead CMPB3 shed 0.1% to $1,956.50. Tin CMSN3 fell 2.1% to $45,400/ton.