METALS-Copper rebounds from 8-week low on bargain hunting

June 18 (Reuters) - Copper prices rose on Tuesday as bargain hunters scooped up the metal after prices hit an eight-week low, although recent weak Chinese economic activity data weighed on the market. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) CMCU3 rose 0.7% to $9,729 per metric ton by 0345 GMT, while the most-traded July copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) SCFcv1 eased 0.1% to 78,770 yuan ($10,856.59) a ton. LME copper fell for three straight sessions to Monday, hitting its lowest level since April 18 at $9,587 in the previous session. "The rebound from $9,600 coincided with the U.S. equity markets getting bid. Hence, there were some bargain hunters bidding up copper at the same time and we touched above $9,750 this morning," said a trader. Demand prospects for the industrial metal have been clouded by the latest data from China, where May industrial output growth slowed to 5.6%, missing a forecast of 6%. Meanwhile, the premium to import copper into top consumer China SMM-CUYP-CN remained below zero, reflecting weak physical demand. LME aluminium CMAL3 rose 0.2% to $2,507.50 a ton, nickel CMNI3 edged up 0.5% to $17,550, zinc CMZN3 climbed 0.7% to $2,836, lead CMPB3 increased 0.7% to $2,172, tin CMSN3 rose 0.8% to $32,400. SHFE aluminium SAFcv1 rose 0.2% to 20,460 yuan a ton, zinc SZNcv1 advanced 1% to 23,540 yuan, lead SPBcv1 increased 1.7% to 18,935 yuan, tin SSNcv1 jumped 0.8% to 269,050 yuan while nickel SNIcv1 fell 0.5% to 135,510 yuan. For the top stories in metals and other news, click TOP/MTL or MET/L DATA/EVENTS (GMT) 0900 Euro zone HICP Final MM YY May 0900 Germany ZEW Economic Sentiment June 0900 Germany ZEW Current Conditions June 1230 US Retail Sales MM May 1315 US Industrial Production MM May 2350 Japan Bank of Japan releases Minutes of Monetary Policy Meeting held on Apr. 25 and 26 ($1 = 7.2555 yuan) (Reporting by Mai Nguyen in Hanoi; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu) (([email protected]; Reuters Messaging: [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 ))