METALS-Copper slightly up tracking dollar; China closed for new year

NEW DELHI, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Copper prices were marginally higher on Monday, tracking a slightly weaker U.S. dollar, although trade volumes were expected to be dampened as markets in top metals consumer China were closed for the Lunar New Year holiday. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange CMCU3 was up 0.05% at $8,173 per metric ton at 0211 GMT. The dollar eased on Friday as traders shrugged off revised U.S. monthly consumer prices that rose less than initially estimated in December. USD/ A weaker dollar makes it cheaper to buy the greenback-priced commodity. LME aluminium CMAL3 fell 0.3% to $2,209 a ton, nickel CMNI3 climbed 0.6% to $16,010, zinc CMZN3 edged 0.07% lower to $2,299 and lead CMPB3 rose 0.7% to $2,046. "With markets closed in China for the Lunar New Year holidays, focus will switch to supply side issues," ANZ Research said in a note. Further policy measures are anticipated from China following the Lunar New Year celebrations, Sucden Financial said in a report over the weekend. For the top stories in metals and other news, click TOP/MTL or MET/L (Reporting by Neha Arora; Editing by Sohini Goswami) (([email protected];)) (( 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 ))