METALS-London copper trends lower as dollar firms on US tariff uncertainty

(Updates prices) NEW DELHI, Feb 27 (Reuters) - London copper prices dipped on Thursday, tracking a firmer dollar as uncertainty lingered around U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff plans. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) CMCU3 eased 0.4% to $9,425.5 a metric ton as of 0700 GMT, after rising 0.2% on Wednesday. The U.S. dollar firmed above an 11-week trough as vague pledges from Trump to impose tariffs on Europe and further delays to levies planned for Canada and Mexico stoked uncertainty. USD/ A stronger dollar makes greenback-priced commodities more expensive for buyers using other currencies. "Looking ahead, March will be a tariff-packed period for the markets as a hike in aluminium, steel and general "reciprocal" tariffs are all on deck," said Marex consultant Edward Meir. "We sense further turbulence as these U.S. tariff increases will almost certainly be matched by America's trading partners, darkening global growth prospects." Among other metals, LME aluminium CMAL3 rose 0.1% to $2,636, LME zinc CMZN3 added 0.1% at $2,816 and nickel CMNI3 gained 0.5% at $15,655. Lead CMPB3 lost 0.9% to $1,993 and tin CMSN3 fell 1.5% to $31,925. SHFE aluminium SAFcv1 was up 0.1% to 20,620 yuan ($2,837.09)a ton, SHFE copper SCFcv1 eased 0.1% to 77,070 yuan, zinc SZNcv1 slid 0.1% to 23,555 yuan, nickel SNIcv1 gained 1.1% to 125,570 yuan, lead SPBcv1 was flat at 17,145 yuan and tin SSNcv1 dropped 3.7% to 254,010 yuan. ($1 = 7.2680 Chinese yuan renminbi) (Reporting by Neha Arora; Editing by Varun H K, Rashmi Aich and Sumana Nandy) ((neha.dasgupta@thomsonreuters.com;)) (( For related news and prices, click on the codes in brackets: LME price overview RING= COMEX copper futures 0#HG: All metals news MTL All commodities news C Foreign exchange rates FX= SPEED GUIDES LME/INDEX ))