METALS-London copper edges lower as spectre of Trump tariffs looms

NEW DELHI, March 26 (Reuters) - Copper prices in London edged lower on Wednesday as concerns over looming U.S. tariffs weighed on sentiment but losses were limited as markets tracked some weakness in the dollar. The benchmark three-month copper CMCU3 on the London Metals Exchange (LME) eased 0.6% to $10,050 a metric ton, as of 0235 GMT. The focus is on potential reciprocal tariffs that the Trump administration might adopt on April 2, causing some nervousness in the market. The dollar took a breather on Wednesday, with weak U.S. confidence data and concerns about the effect of sweeping tariffs on U.S. growth putting the brakes on a recent bounce. USD/ A softer dollar makes commodities priced in the U.S. currency less expensive for buyers using other currencies. Last month, U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a probe into potential new tariffs on copper imports to rebuild U.S. production of the metal critical to electric vehicles, military hardware, power grids and many consumer goods. Markets have been tracking the movement of the industrial metal to the U.S. ahead of a decision. "I agree there is significant diversion of units occurring towards the U.S. and stockpiles there are rising," said Natalie Scott-Gray, a senior metals analyst at StoneX. "Much of this material will be coming from usual sources i.e., Chile or Canada into the country... Meanwhile, China is at a shortage of material, as units divert to the U.S. from producers like Chile, so they need material and could be taking it from the LME or off-exchange sources." Among other metals, LME aluminium CMAL3 was up 0.2% at $2,615.5 a ton, lead CMPB3 fell 0.7% at $2,070, zinc dipped 0.6% to $2,954.5, tin CMSN3 declined 0.6% to $34,840 and nickel CMNI3 eased 0.2% to $16,125 a ton. SHFE copper SCFcv1 jumped 0.9% to 82,460 yuan ($11,353.44) a ton, SHFE aluminium SAFcv1 was up 0.2% to 20,695 yuan a ton, zinc SZNcv1 was down 0.06% at 24,125 yuan, lead SPBcv1 advanced 0.2% to 17,570 yuan, nickel SNIcv1 gained 0.7% to 129,870 yuan, and tin SSNcv1 rose 1.6% to 278,540 yuan. ($1 = 7.2630 Chinese yuan renminbi) (Reporting by Neha Arora; Editing by Rashmi Aich) ((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 ))