Copper hits 3-week high after more Chinese cities ease COVID curbs

Dec 5 (Reuters) - Industrial metals rose on Monday, with copper scaling a three-week peak as a partial easing of COVID-19 restrictions in top metals consumer China raised hopes for a full reopening of the economy, with a weaker U.S. dollar also lending support.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was up 0.6% at $8,504 a tonne, as of 0700 GMT. It hit its highest since Nov. 14 at $8,555 during Asian trading.

On the Shanghai Futures Exchange, the most-traded January copper contract ended daytime trade 0.7% higher at 66,260 yuan ($9,529.56) a tonne, after earlier hitting 66,860 yuan, its strongest since Nov. 16.

Amid Beijing's changing narrative on COVID-19's health risks, more cities announced an easing of curbs on Sunday, lifting large-scale lockdowns, reducing regular tests and ending checks for negative results in public spaces.

"The driving force today is the higher expectations for economic recovery in China. With China's reopening seemingly a matter of time, the focus switched to economic development," Marex metals analysts said in a note.

China's restrictive zero-COVID policy has dampened overall demand and industrial activity, and sparked unprecedented protests last month.

A softer dollar also supported LME prices, as it made greenback-priced commodities cheaper for buyers using other currencies. The dollar index was down 0.18% at 104.28, its lowest since June 28, after falling 1.4% last week.

Among other metals, aluminium gained 0.8% to $2,566 a tonne, zinc added 1.3% to $3,120, lead rose 1.4% to $2,232.50 and tin climbed 4.3% to $24,250.

SHFE aluminium was up 0.7% at 19,320 yuan a tonne, nickel climbed 3% to 207,750 yuan, lead gained 1.7% to 16,005 yuan, tin added 3.9% to 194,530 yuan, and zinc was little changed at 24,520 yuan.

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($1 = 6.9531 yuan) (Reporting by Enrico Dela Cruz in Manila; Editing by Savio D'Souza and Subhranshu Sahu)