METALS-Copper ticks higher on low inventories, equity bounce

    BEIJING, Jan 7 (Reuters) - London copper prices edged
upwards for a second session in early Asian trade on Tuesday,
tracking gains in equity markets and as inventories of the metal
continued to fall.
    Copper stocks in London Metal Exchange-monitored warehouses
MCU-STOCKS have slumped by 57.5% since late August and are
currently at 142,900 tonnes, the lowest since March 2019.      
    
    FUNDAMENTALS
    * COPPER: Three-month copper on the LME rose 0.4% to
$6,161 a tonne by 0136 GMT, extending a 0.2% gain from the
previous session. The most-traded March copper contract on the
Shanghai Futures Exchange climbed 0.3% to 48,960 yuan 
($7,019.46) a tonne.    
    * GOLDMAN: Investment bank Goldman Sachs said on Monday it
remained bullish on copper because smelters were suffering from
depressed margins.
    * FIRST QUANTUM: Canada's First Quantum Minerals Ltd
fell as much as nearly 4% on Monday after the copper miner said
it had adopted a poison pill takeover defense, nearly a month
after Jiangxi Copper<0358.HK< agreed to pay $1.1
billion to become the miner's largest shareholder.
    * MINMETALS: China Minmetals Corp said on Monday its net
profit rose by 28.9% in 2019 and annual revenue increased by
13.4%, exceeding 600 billion yuan ($86.04 billion) for the first
time, although its nickel and zinc resources fell.
    * OTHER METALS: The LME complex was mixed, with aluminium
 and zinc both down 0.3% and nickel
slipping 0.1%. Lead added 0.1% and tin nudged up
0.2%.
    * OIL: Commerzbank analyst Daniel Briesemann said on Monday
a jump in oil prices since the United States killed Iranian
general Qassem Soleimani would push up miners' costs and this
was leaving base metals relatively resilient to increased
geopolitical tension.
    * For the top stories in metals and other news, click       
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    MARKETS NEWS    
    * Asian shares rebounded as a day passed without a new
escalation in the Middle East and Wall Street erased early
losses to end in the black as tech stocks climbed.  
 
        
    DATA AHEAD (GMT)
1000   EU    HICP Flash YY          Dec
1000   EU    HICP-X F&E Flash YY    Dec
1330   US    International Trade    Nov
1500   US    Factory Orders MM      Nov
1500   US    ISM N-Mfg PMI          Dec        
        
    PRICES    
 BASE METALS PRICES                      0136 GMT
 Three month LME copper                      6161
 Most active ShFE copper                    48960
 Three month LME aluminium                 1827.5
 Most active ShFE aluminium                 14080
 Three month LME zinc                        2317
 Most active ShFE zinc                      18090
 Three month LME lead                      1922.5
 Most active ShFE lead                      14805
 Three month LME nickel                     13795
 Most active ShFE nickel                   108020
 Three month LME tin                        16875
 Most active ShFE tin                      134610
                                                 
 BASE METALS ARBITRAGE                           
 LME/SHFE COPPER             LMESHFCUc     502.75
                             3          
 LME/SHFE ALUMINIUM          LMESHFALc    -454.23
                             3          
 LME/SHFE ZINC               LMESHFZNc    -347.08
                             3          
 LME/SHFE LEAD               LMESHFPBc    -727.19
                             3          
 LME/SHFE NICKEL             LMESHFNIc   -2795.04
                             3          
 
    

($1 = 6.9749 Chinese yuan renminbi)

 (Reporting by Tom Daly; Editing by Arun Koyyur)