(Updates with closing prices)By Peter HobsonLONDON, July 3 (Reuters) - Copper prices were stuck near atwo-week low on Wednesday as uncertainty over U.S.-China tradetalks injected pessimism into the demand outlook and stockpilesin London Metal Exchange (LME) warehouses jumped to the highestin a year.
Benchmark copper on the LME closed up 0.5% at $5,918a tonne after slipping to $5,840, the weakest since June 18.Investors fear protectionist trade policies will damageeconomic growth, weakening metals consumption.Copper, used in power and construction, cost more than$7,000 a tonne in June last year before U.S. President DonaldTrump began his trade dispute with China.
Hopes that talks over the weekend had put the two countrieson a path to a deal were fading, said ETF Securities analystNitesh Shah.
"From a fundamental standpoint, things are pretty good (forcopper) ... If there weren't question marks over demand, themetal would be doing very well," he said.
MANUFACTURING: Data this week showed factory activity shrankacross much of Europe and Asia in June and slowed to near athree-year low in the United States. In China, the world's largest consumer of metals, themanufacturing PMI fell short of market expectations and was theworst since January. SLOWING GROWTH: Other figures on Wednesday from China, theeuro zone, Britain and the United States reinforced a picture ofweakening economies.STOCKS: Expectations that central banks will battle slowinggrowth with easier monetary policy drove U.S. stocks to a recordhigh, and gave some support to copper. TRADE WAR: White House trade adviser Peter Navarro saidtrade talks with China were heading in the right direction, buta deal would take time. But Trump said on Monday any deal would need to be somewhattilted in favour of the United States, and a U.S. official saidChinese company Huawei should still be treated as blacklisted.COPPER STOCKS: Copper inventories in LME-registeredwarehouses jumped 32,575 tonnes to 272,500 tonnes, the highestin a year, suggesting a better supplied market. TIN: LME tin ended up 3.5% at $18,310 a tonne afterplunging more than 6% on Tuesday to the lowest in three years.
"The overall pattern of weak supply and demand remainsunchanged," Citic Futures analysts said in a note, adding thatChinese tin smelters were losing money at these price levels.
TIN STOCKS: LME inventories have risen from a record lowbelow 1,000 tonnes in May to 6,410 tonnes, the highest in twoyears but far below peaks a decade ago. SPREADS: LME cash tin has flipped from a more than $300premium to the three-month contract in May to a discount of $7on Wednesday, pointing to more plentiful nearby supply. OTHER METALS: LME aluminium finished up 0.5% at$1,790 a tonne and nickel rose 2.1% to $12,350. Zinc fell 1.2% to $2,449 and lead closed down 0.8% at$1,880.
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Top Base and Precious Metals Analysis - GFMS Tin tanks: Metal hits 3-year low as bears attack ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Reporting by Peter Hobson; Additional reporting by Tom Daly,editing by Deepa Babington and Elaine Hardcastle)