LONDON Feb 15 (Reuters) - Copper prices rose on Thursday as the U.S. dollar eased and on the back of stable manufacturing demand from top consumer China.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was up 0.7% at $8,250.50 a metric ton as of 1202 GMT.

Metals got support as the dollar index, which had reached a three-month high earlier this week, slipped back. A weaker U.S. currency makes dollar-priced metals less expensive for holders of other currencies.

Nonetheless, investors expect U.S. interest rates to stay high after surprisingly hot U.S. inflation figures released on Tuesday, suggesting a delay in the first Federal Reserve rate cut.

"The manufacturing cycle already reached a lower point, bearish sentiments should normalise. China's manufacturing data is holding up quite well, its resilience is still under-appreciated," said Carsten Menke, commodity analyst with Julius Baer.

China's official purchasing managers' index (PMI) rebounded slightly in January month-on-month, but was still below the 50-mark separating growth from contraction.

Julius Baer set its three-month target for copper at $8,500 a ton and also expects higher prices longer-term, based on the lack of greenfield projects.

"2025 is when we see more issues in supply from mining. The market will pay a price for underinvestment from next year onward," Menke added.

Also providing support to copper, LME daily data showed that copper stocks in LME-registered warehouses fell to 132,525 tons, the lowest level since September.

LME zinc was up 1.4% at $2,344.5 a ton after another 5,000 tonnes of inflows into LME warehouses in Singapore, bringing the total to 259,825 tons, its highest since June 2021. .

For the rest of base metals, LME aluminium edged 1.2% higher to $2,040.50 a ton, nickel was up 1% at $16,505 , lead climbed 1.2% to $2,040.50. Tin eased 0.4% to $27,350. (Reporting by Julian Luk in London; Editing by Susan Fenton)