London copper prices inched up in early trade on Wednesday after a more than 1% drop in the previous session, as the dollar fell from a three-week peak and investors awaited the minutes of the Federal Reserve's July policy meeting.
A weaker greenback makes dollar-denominated metals cheaper for holders of other currencies and can support prices.
FUNDAMENTALS
* COPPER: Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange rose 0.3% to $5,725 a tonne by 0149 GMT, after closing down 1.1% in the previous session on concerns of weak demand in top metals consumer China. The most-traded October copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell 0.6% to 46,350 yuan ($6,568.51) a tonne.
* COPPER: The global world refined copper market showed a 62,000 tonnes deficit in May, compared with a 124,000 tonnes deficit in April, the International Copper Study Group said in its latest monthly bulletin.
* USD: The dollar index against a basket of six major currencies was flat at 98.210 after shedding 0.2% overnight
* VEDANTA: Zambian President Edgar Lungu will not meet the chairman of Vedanta Resources to discuss the disputed liquidation of its Konkola Copper Mines on his visit to India this week, a statement from the Zambian State House said.
* TRADE: President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he had to confront China over trade even if it caused short-term harm to the U.S. economy because Beijing had been cheating Washington for decades.
* ALUMINIUM: Xinfa Group, one of China's top aluminium producers, has shut down an aluminium production line after an explosion at a plant in the northwestern Chinese region of Xinjiang, according to a company source.
* OTHER METALS: Zinc, which hits its lowest since October 2016 on Tuesday, gained 0.5% and aluminium added 0.2% on a mixed LME complex, with nickel, lead and tin all marginally lower. - Reuters-