METALS-London copper falls to nearly two-week low on US tariff woes

(Updates prices after Asia market close) NEW DELHI, March 28 (Reuters) - Copper prices in London hit a nearly two-week low on Friday, as unease over looming U.S. tariffs weighed on sentiment. The benchmark three-month copper CMCU3 on the London Metals Exchange (LME) eased 0.5% to $9,801.5 per metric ton as of 0717 GMT. It had briefly fallen to $9,800, its lowest since March 17. For the week, prices were down 0.6%. Last month, U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a probe into potential tariffs on copper imports to rebuild U.S. production of the metal. Markets are on edge about Trump's pledge to announce sweeping new tariffs next week in addition to the 25% levies on imported cars that would take effect on April 3. "We also believe that higher U.S. tariffs and a more general move away from global trade will damage world economic prospects, helping to undermine base metals demand in the year ahead," said Dan Smith, head of research at Amalgamated Metal Trading. Among other metals, LME aluminium CMAL3 fell 0.2% to $2,557 a ton, lead CMPB3 eased 0.3% to $2,034.5, zinc shed 0.4% to $2,889, tin CMSN3 gained 0.03% to $35,280 and nickel CMNI3 added 0.8% to $16,370 a ton. SHFE copper SCFcv1 slid 1.4% to 80,450 yuan ($11,075.32) a ton, SHFE aluminium SAFcv1 fell 0.96% to 20,580 yuan a ton, zinc SZNcv1 dropped 1.43% to 23,770 yuan, lead SPBcv1 lost 0.96% to 17,450 yuan, nickel SNIcv1 gained 1.01% to 131,600 yuan and tin SSNcv1 advanced 0.8% to 282,290 yuan. ($1 = 7.2639 Chinese yuan) (Reporting by Neha Arora; Editing by Rashmi Aich, Janane Venkatraman 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 ))