METALS-Copper Holds Steady Despite Weak U.S. Data, China

NEW YORK/LONDON, Sept 15 (Reuters) –

Copper ended with modest
losses on Wednesday, holding just below a recent four-month peak
even as soft industrial output data in the United States and talk
of further policy tightening in China rekindled global demand
concerns.

"This thing is kind of coiling ... the ranges are tightening,"
said Steve Platt, futures analyst with Archer Financial Services
in Chicago.

"It looks like it wants to still go higher."

Copper for December delivery HGZ0 on the COMEX metals
division of the New York Mercantile Exchange eased 0.20 cent to
end at $3.4665 per lb, after dealing between $3.4330 and $3.4780.

Last week, the active December contract rallied to $3.5345 per
lb, its highest level since late April.

"If we can get through the highs for yesterday, which were
around $3.49, I suspect we will take out the recent peak," Platt
said.

On the London Metal Exchange (LME), benchmark copper CMCU3
fell $40 to close at $7,620 a tonne.

In after hours trade, the metal pared a portion of its losses
to trade at $7,625.

Markets managed to recover from an initial sell-off, which
pulled prices in New York and London to session lows at $3.4330
and $7,548, respectively, tied to the release of U.S. industrial
production data which showed output rose at a slower 0.2 percent
pace in August. 

"Two-tenths of a percent increase when we should be in
recovery mode is nothing to write home about," said John Gross,
long-time copper market analyst and publisher of the Copper
Journal.

Sentiment took an additional hit from news that China's
banking regulator was reported to be considering raising capital
adequacy ratios at banks deemed "systemically important."

"It looks as if the government in China is focusing on trying
to constrain excesses in the property market, that it is
considering increasing capital ratios," said Dan Brebner, analyst
at Deutsche Bank.

The trade's focus is also on the U.S. Federal Reserve, which
could soon announce more quantitative easing. [ID:nFEDAHEAD]
Easier monetary policies typically benefit perceived risk assets
because there is more liquidity seeking returns.

WATCHING CHINA COPPER IMPORTS

The United States is the world's second-largest consumer of
copper after China, which many still expect to account for the
dragon's share of copper demand growth. Analysts expect to see
this in import data over coming months.

Refined Chinese copper import data for August, due later thismonth, is expected to show a rise based on preliminary numbers
last week, while U.S imports also appear to be picking up after a
slowdown earlier this year.
 

Aluminum CMAL3 eased $5 to end at $2,154 a tonne, zinc

CMZN3 shed $30 to finish at $2,145, while lead CMPB3 was
untraded at the close but last bid at $2,235 from $2,242 on

Tuesday. Nickel CMNI3 was last at $23,000 a tonne from $23,350.

Tin CMSN3 shot up $500 to $23,150 per tonne, near a session
peak at $23,200, its highest since late July 2008, supported by
recent developments in Africa. 

Metal Prices at 1846 GMT

COMEX copper in cents/lb, LME prices in $/T and SHFE prices in
yuan/T
 Metal            Last      Change  Pct Move   End 2009   Ytd Pct
                                                         move
 COMEX Cu       346.40       -0.45     -0.13     334.65      3.51
 LME Alum      2145.00      -14.00     -0.65    2230.00     -3.81
 LME Cu        7620.00      -40.00     -0.52    7375.00      3.32
 LME Lead      2225.00      -25.00     -1.11    2432.00     -8.51
 LME Nickel   23155.00     -195.00     -0.84   18525.00     24.99
 LME Tin      23100.00      450.00     +1.99   16950.00     36.28
 LME Zinc      2135.00      -40.00     -1.84    2560.00    -16.60
 SHFE Alu     15635.00      -15.00     -0.10   17160.00     -8.89
 SHFE Cu*     59090.00       50.00     +0.08   59900.00     -1.35
 SHFE Zin     17555.00      -85.00     -0.48   21195.00    -17.17