METALS-LME copper edges down on a stronger dollar, rising inventories

Feb 19 (Reuters) - LME copper ticked down on Thursday, having gained more than 2% in the last session, as the U.S. dollar hit a more than one-week high and rising inventories with muted China demand weighed on prices of the red metal.

Benchmark copper CMCU3 on the LME edged 0.4% down to $12,861.50 a metric ton as of 0604 GMT after rising 2.3% on Wednesday.

Trading is thin with the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed for the Lunar New Year holidays till February 23.

"With China and Hong Kong closed, it's not surprising that (copper's) basically not doing anything and waiting for liquidity to come back," said Ilya Spivak, head of global macro at Tastylive, adding that a firm dollar was also pressuring prices slightly.

The dollar held on to gains after minutes from the Federal Reserve showed policymakers did not seem to be in a rush to cut interest rates and that several were open to hikes if inflation proved sticky. USD/

A stronger U.S. dollar makes greenback-priced metals more expensive for holders of other currencies.

Copper stocks in LME-approved warehouses increased by 3,025 tons to 224,650 tons on Tuesday MCUSTX-TOTAL, the highest since March 2025.

The Democratic Republic of Congo struck a deal to tender copper from a major Glencore GLEN.L operation in the country, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday.

DRC's state miner Gecamines has secured rights to market about half of Kamoto Copper Company's output — controlled by a Glencore subsidiary — for at least the next two years, and 30% of production after that, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.

In other metals, zinc prices ticked down 0.1% to $3,350 CMZN3. The metal touched a two-week low on Tuesday.

Aluminium CMAL3 lost 0.5% to $3,072.50, after breaking a four-session losing streak on Wednesday when it climbed 1.8%. Lead CMPB3 gained 0.2% to $1,969.0, and nickel CMNI3 was up 1.1% at $17,470 a ton.

Tin CMSN3 was up 0.4% at $45,855.