(Recasts first paragraph, updates prices and dollar bullet) By Pratima Desai LONDON, June 28 (Reuters) - Copper prices slipped on Tuesdayas the dollar rose and recession concerns were back in focus,but hopes for stronger demand after top consumer China relaxedits COVID-19 quarantine mandates provided some support. Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange wasdown 0.6% at $8,366 a tonne as of 1707 GMT. Prices of the metal,used as a gauge of economic health by investors, touched$8,122.50 a tonne on Friday, the lowest since February 2021. "China's hard lockdowns have hit manufacturing activity andindustrial metals demand," said Julius Baer analyst CarstenMenke. "Markets fear economies can't cope with this mix of highinflation and tightening monetary policy."
COVID: China will halve to seven days its COVID-19quarantine period for overseas visitors, with a further threedays spent at home. The country's state planner said it would roll out tools inits policy reserve in a timely way to cope with economicchallenges, boosting sentiment. Clues to Chinese demand for industrial metals will comelater this week from surveys of purchasing managers in themanufacturing sector.
DOLLAR: A higher U.S. currency makes dollar-priced metalsmore expensive for holders of other currencies, which tends tosubdue demand. This relationship is used by funds to generatebuy and sell signals from numerical models. GROWTH: Rising inflation and interest rate hikes havefuelled worries about a global economic recession. SPREADS: Worries about low zinc stocks in LME-registeredwarehouses have eased. This can be seen in the narrowing premiumfor the cash over the three-month zinc contract , lastat $57 a tonne compared with more than $200 a tonne last week. But zinc availability on the LME market remains a problem ascancelled warrants - material earmarked for delivery - at 77% ofthe total indicates more metal is due to leave LME warehousesover coming weeks . Three-month zinc rose 0.8% to $3,345 a tonne. OTHER METALS: Aluminium slipped 0.1% to $2,493, lead was down 1.5% at $1,973, tin climbed 2.8% to$26,230 and nickel gained 1.3% to $23,180 a tonne. (Reporting by Pratima Desai; additional reporting by BrijeshPatel in Bengaluru; editing by Vinay Dwivedi)
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