SHANGHAI, Dec. 20 (SMM) -- Euro zone finance ministers on Monday confirmed plans to provide EUR 150 billion in additional bilateral loans to contain European debt crisis, but the euro still weakened, since markets were concerned that the scale of loans is not sufficient to prevent the borrowing costs in Italy and Spain from rising, especially when the rating agency issued the downgrade warning for one or more eurozone countries. As a result, LME zinc prices continued to slip, with prices finally closing at USD 1,848/mt, down USD 19/mt. Trading volumes increased by 276 lots to 6,370 lots, while positions increased by 3,120 lots to 281,481 lots. A discount for cash over LME three-month zinc prices narrowed to USD 1/mt on Monday, causing LME zinc inventories to soar by 6,725 mt to 765,000 mt. As markets lose short-term upward momentum, and investors focus on a leadership transition in North Korea, SMM predicts SHFE three-month zinc contract prices will move between RMB 14,400-14,700/mt on Tuesday, with discounts between negative RMB 0-50/mt.