* Stronger dollar after ECB comments weighs on metals
* Tin hits highest level in three weeks
* GRAPHIC-2018 asset returns: (Updates with closing prices)By Eric OnstadLONDON, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Copper hit its highest in morethan a week on Thursday after U.S.-China trade tensions eased,but gains were capped due to persistent worries about Chinesedemand and global growth.China made its first purchases of U.S. soybeans sincePresident Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinpingstruck a trade war truce earlier this month, while China alsoappeared to be easing its high-tech industrial push."We're in this weaker seasonal period and economic datapoints aren't going to be great, but the way the market islooking at it, any de-escalation of trade friction is viewed aspositive for commodities and that's going to overarch anythingelse. We're very macro driven at the moment," said ColinHamilton, director of commodities research at BMO Capital.Some investors may also be unwinding a wider trade that'sbeen in place for much of the year, going long on the dollar andshort on commodities."Trading days before year-end are few and far between so Ithink there could be a little bit of upside (for metals) ifthere's some profit-taking on that trade," Hamilton added.Copper on the London Metal Exchange is down 14.5 percentyear-to-date, largely on fears the trade tensions will hurtdemand for industrial metals.Three-month LME copper closed open outcry activityup 0.2 percent at $6,155 a tonne after touching $6,231, thehighest since Dec. 4.
* DOLLAR: Base metals were pressured by a firmer dollarafter the European Central Bank trimmed its growth and inflationprojections for next year and said the balance of risk wastilted towards the downside, weakening the euro against thedollar.
* CHILE MINE: Chile's Codelco said on Thursday its sprawlingChuquicamata copper mine was operating normally after workersblocked access to the mine overnight.
* ALUMINIUM STOCKS: LME on-warrant aluminium inventories,those stocks not earmarked for delivery, rose by 24,950 tonnesto 853,375 tonnes, LME data showed on Thursday .They have surged 40 percent since the beginning of October.LME benchmark aluminium shed 0.4 percent to finishat $1,932 a tonne.
* NICKEL: Short covering overnight boosted nickel, AlastairMunro at broker Marex Spectron said in a note. LME nickel added 0.5 percent to end at $10,850 a tonne.
* INDEX REWEIGHTING: The annual reweighting of key commodityindexes in January will affect about 10.5 percent of averagedaily volumes (ADV) of zinc over each of five days and 7.7percent of aluminium ADV, Societe Generale said in a note.
* PRICES: LME zinc slipped 0.2 percent to close at$2,566 a tonne, lead dropped 1.4 percent at $1,948 andtin added 0.4 percent to $19,400, after hitting $19,480,the highest since Nov. 21.
* For the top stories in metals and other news, click or <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Top Base and Precious Metals Analysis - GFMS ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Additional reporting by Tom Daly in Beijing; Editing byKirsten Donovan/Alexandra Hudson/Adrian Croft/Jane Merriman)
Reuters Messaging: eric.onstad.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))