METALS-Base metals rise as trade war fears ease

 (Adds analyst comment, updates prices)
    BEIJING, March 27 (Reuters) - Base metals prices climbed
across the board on Tuesday, lifted by a rebound in equities on
hopes that a trade war between top metals consumer China and the
United States may be avoided. 
    Senior U.S. officials are asking China to cut tariffs on
imported cars, allow foreign majority ownership of financial
services firms and buy more U.S.-made semiconductors in
negotiations to avoid plans to slap tariffs on a host of Chinese
goods.
    The news saw London copper prices pull away from a
three-month low seen on Monday after another jump in
inventories, before workers at Antofagasta PLC's Los
Pelambres copper mine in Chile reached an agreement on a new
labour contract, defusing the threat of a strike.
    "The risk of copper supply disruptions due to strikes is
still high as workers demand higher wages while mining companies
are in austerity mode and strongly against locking in higher
fixed costs in perpetuity," Jefferies analyst Christopher
LaFemina wrote in a note.
    Several other key mine labour contracts are up for renewal
in the second half of the year, he said.
    
    FUNDAMENTALS
    * LME COPPER: Three-month copper on the London Metal
Exchange rose 1.6 percent to $6,705 a tonne by 0446 GMT,
having touched a low of $6,532 in the previous session, its
weakest since early December. It closed down 0.9 percent on
Monday.
    * LME COPPER: Copper inventories in LME warehouses
MCUSTOX-TOTAL grew by 35,000 tonnes to 352,750 tonnes,
exchange data showed on Monday. On-warrant stocks have nearly
doubled this year and are at their most elevated since September
2016. 
    * SHFE COPPER: The most traded May contract on the
Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE) was up 0.4 percent at 49,760
yuan ($7,952.69) a tonne by the mid-session interval.
    * USD: The U.S. dollar index was flat at 89.05,
having hit a five-week low against a basket of major currencies
late on Monday. A weaker dollar makes metals cheaper for holders
of other currencies, supporting prices.
    * ZINC: Zinc was trading up 1.1 percent at $3,296.50
a tonne, having earlier touched $3,300, its highest since March
14. It was up 1.8 percent in Shanghai after customs
data on Monday showed that China's zinc imports jumped by 151
percent in February.
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    MARKETS NEWS    
    * Asian share markets rose sharply on Tuesday as reports of
behind-the-scenes talks between the United States and China
rekindled hopes a damaging trade war could be averted, in turn
sapping the strength of the dollar and yen.
       
        
    PRICES 
    
                                           0446 GMT
 Three month LME copper                        6705
 Most active ShFE copper                      49750
 Three month LME aluminium                   2064.5
 Most active ShFE aluminium                   13850
 Three month LME zinc                        3296.5
 Most active ShFE zinc                        25025
 Three month LME lead                          2399
 Most active ShFE lead                        18640
 Three month LME nickel                       13185
 Most active ShFE nickel                      98180
 Three month LME tin                          20860
 Most active ShFE tin                        142330
                                                   
 BASE METALS ARBITRAGE                             
 LME/SHFE COPPER              LMESHFCUc3     884.67
 LME/SHFE ALUMINIUM           LMESHFALc3   -1157.12
 LME/SHFE ZINC                LMESHFZNc3     500.82
 LME/SHFE LEAD                LMESHFPBc3     293.61
 LME/SHFE NICKEL              LMESHFNIc3     656.96
 

($1 = 6.2570 Chinese yuan)

    
 (Reporting by Tom Daly
Editing by Kenneth Maxwell and Biju Dwarakanath)