Dec 21 (Reuters) - Copper prices edged higher on Tuesday buoyed by a softer dollar, though jitters over the rapid spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant capped gains.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange rose 0.5% to $9,491 a tonne, as of 0240 GMT, while the most-traded January copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange gained 0.4% to 69,180 yuan ($10,853.47) a tonne.

The dollar lost some ground overnight after U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, a moderate Democrat who is key to President Joe Biden's hopes of passing a $1.75 trillion domestic investment bill, said on Sunday he would not support the package.

A weaker dollar makes the greenback-denominated commodity less expensive for those holding other currencies.

However, gains were limited by concerns over the fast-spreading Omicron variant, prompting restrictions in Europe and the United States.

FUNDAMENTALS

* LME aluminium rose 0.3% to $2,680 a tonne, nickel gained 0.8% to $19,495 a tonne, lead edged 0.3% higher to $2,300.5 a tonne and tin was up 0.5% at $38,400 a tonne.

* ShFE aluminium fell 0.9% to 19,535 yuan a tonne, nickel was down 0.9% at 143,560 yuan a tonne, zinc slipped 1.4% to 23,485 yuan a tonne, lead edged up 0.3% to 15,545 yuan a tonne and tin rose 0.5% to 284,550 yuan a tonne.

* Chile's mining sector is bracing for tighter environmental rules ahead after President-elect Gabriel Boric pledged to oppose a controversial $2.5 billion iron-copper mine that was approved in August after years of legal wrangling.

* A Peruvian community blocking a road used by MMG Ltd's Las Bambas copper mine will again not participate in a government-brokered meeting to be held on Tuesday, a representative said. The company suspended production indefinitely from Saturday.

* For the first nine months of the year, the market was in a 161,000 tonne deficit compared with a 239,000 tonne deficit in the same period a year earlier, the International Copper Study Group said.

* Global primary aluminium output fell 0.22% year on year in November to 5.497 million tonnes, data from the International Aluminium Institute (IAI) showed.

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DATA/EVENTS (GMT)

1500 EU Consumer Confidence Flash Dec

2350 Japan Bank of Japan releases minutes of Oct. 27-28 monetary policy meeting ($1 = 6.3740 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Eileen Soreng in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)