SINGAPORE: London copper prices dipped on Monday ahead of a holiday in China, while other metals were mixed amid surprisingly strong data on U.S. economic growth.
The Shanghai Futures Exchange will be shut from the night trading session on Tuesday, reopening next Monday. China is the world's top metals consumer.
The U.S. economy accelerated more than expected in the first quarter, putting to rest fears of a recession. But there was caution over less upbeat aspects of a GDP report which pointed to some weakening ahead.
FUNDAMENTALS
* COPPER: Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange fell 0.2 percent to $6,388 a tonne by 0418 GMT, while the most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange was almost flat at 48,880 yuan ($7,264.40) a tonne.
* CHINA: Profits at China's industrial firms grew in March, rebounding from four months of contraction, adding to optimism the world's second-largest economy may be starting to stabilise.
* BAUXITE: Guinea, Africa's biggest producer of bauxite, expects to boost its energy production capacity by nearly four-fold over the next six years as it pushes mining companies to refine their bauxite output locally, its energy minister said.
* ZINC: London zinc fell 0.4 percent to $2,757 a tonne, after data on Friday showed stocks in warehouse approved by the London Metal Exchange (LME) increased 3,600 tonnes, or 4.7 percent, from a day earlier. <MZNSTX-TOTAL>
* "Last week saw open interest in Zinc put options increase in June and July with strike prices ranging from $2,400 to $2,600 and with considerably more open interest than there are stocks in LME warehouses, so more metal may well be on its way," said Malcolm Freeman of Kingdom Futures.
* TRADE: U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said trade talks with China were going very well, as the two countries seek to end talks with a trade agreement to defuse tensions.
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MARKETS NEWS
* Asian stock markets inched up after the U.S. first-quarter economic growth data boosted the S&P 500 index to a record-high.
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