SINGAPORE, Nov. 13 -- Copper rebounded in Asia, heading for a second weekly advance, as the dollar's decline outweighed an expansion of global inventories.

    The metal used in construction and automobiles is up 0.7 percent this week as the dollar dropped 0.4 percent against a basket of currencies of six main trading partners. The dollar index fell after gaining for two days.

    "Consolidation is the most likely price path in the coming days until clarity emerges from the inventory side," Tobias Merath, head of commodity research at Credit Suisse Group AG, said in a note today. "The market continues to be torn between conflicting signals from the fundamentals side, particularly inventory developments."

    Copper for delivery in three months on the London Metal Exchange gained as much as 0.6 percent to $6,541 a metric ton, and traded at $6,535 as of 3:33 p.m. in Singapore. The metal lost as much as 1.1 percent yesterday.

    February-delivery copper on the Shanghai Futures Exchange ended the day little changed at 51,180 yuan ($7,498), after losing as much as 1.2 percent earlier.

    Copper stockpiles tallied by the London Metal Exchange rose 1.2 percent yesterday to 402,125 tons, the highest since May 6. Inventories in Shanghai are at a five-year high.

    Prices were supported by possible supply disruptions in South America. Cia. Minera Antamina SA workers in Peru will set a strike date next week after rejecting a proposed wage increase, a union official said yesterday, while wage talks at Codelco's Andina mine in Chile are under way. Miners at BHP Billiton Ltd.'s Spence mine in Chile have been on strike since Oct. 13.

    Among other LME-traded metals, aluminum was up 0.1 percent at $1,950 a ton, zinc rose 1.4 percent to $2,180 a ton, nickel added 0.7 percent to $16,310 a ton and lead was unchanged at $2,260 a ton, as of 3:44 p.m. in Singapore.

    (Source: Bloomberg)