Dec 8 (Reuters) - Prices of most non-ferrous metals rose on Thursday, buoyed by hopes that demand from top consumer China will improve after the country gradually eased its strict COVID-19 restrictions.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange rose 0.1% to $8,462 a tonne by 0248 GMT, while the most-traded January copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange edged up 0.3% to 66,030 yuan ($9,463.82) a tonne.
China on Wednesday announced the most sweeping changes to its resolute anti-COVID-19 regime since the pandemic began three years ago, allowing infected people with mild symptoms to quarantine at home and dropping testing for people travelling domestically.
The U.S. dollar remained weak after sliding against major peers overnight for the first time this week as investors fretted about a potential recession in the United States.
A weak dollar makes greenback-priced metals cheaper to holders of other currencies.
LME aluminium rose 0.5% to $2,498 a tonne, zinc increased 0.4% to $3,195 a tonne, tin was up 0.6% at $24,440 a tonne, while lead fell 0.1% to $2,210 a tonne.
SHFE aluminium eased 0.4% to 19,180 yuan a tonne, nickel jumped 4.2% to 21,830 yuan a tonne, zinc was up 0.4% to 24,855 yuan a tonne, lead eased 0.4% to 15,735 yuan a tonne and tin shed 0.4% to 196,330 yuan a tonne.
China's nickel buyers, the world's biggest purchasers of the metal, have asked producers to switch to SHFE contracts to price their supplies next year, sources told Reuters.
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DATA/EVENTS (GMT)
1330 US Initial Jobless Clm Weekly
($1 = 6.9771 yuan) (Reporting by Mai Nguyen in Hanoi; editing by Uttaresh.V)
