SYDNEY, Feb 20 (Reuters) - London copper was little changed on Thursday, down from three-week peaks hit the session before, as traders marked time ahead of factory data in top user China.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange CMCU3 was unchanged at $7,174.50 a tonne by 0108 GMT, after falling slightly the previous session.

* Copper prices reached their highest since Jan. 27 at $7,220 on Wednesday, but failed to hold their momentum.

* The most-traded May copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange SCFK4 fell 0.3 percent to 50,620 yuan ($8,300) a tonne.

* Three Federal Reserve officials on Wednesday said they believed the U.S. economy was gaining traction despite a recent slowdown from cold weather, allowing the central bank to stick to its plan to wind down its massive bond-buying stimulus this year. ID:nL2N0LO23B

* U.S. housing starts recorded their biggest drop in almost three years in January as harsh weather disrupted activity, but the third month of declines in permits hinted at some weakness in the housing market. ID:nL2N0LO0Y3

* Azerbaijan plans to increase aluminium production from next year, boosting it to up to 100,000 tonnes in 2016 after a state-owned plant capacity expansion, the head of the plant said. ID:nL6N0LN4IQ

* For the top stories in metals and other news, click

TOP/MTL , TOP/MACRO or MET/L

MARKETS NEWS

* Asian stocks languished in early trade on Thursday and the dollar firmed, after minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting showed it remained on track to taper its stimulus despite a recent spate of downbeat U.S. economic data.

MKTS/GLOB

DATA (GMT)

0145 China HSBC Manufacturing Flash PMI CNPMIF=ECI

0700 Germany Producer prices DEPPIY=ECI

0758 France Markit Manufacturing Flash PMI FRPMIF=ECI

0828 Germany Markit Manufacturing Flash PMI DEPMIF=ECI

0858 Euro zone Markit Manufacturing Flash PMI EUPMMF=ECI

1330 U.S. CPI USCPNY=ECI

1330 U.S. Weekly jobless claims USJOB=ECI

1358 U.S. Markit Manufacturing Flash PMI USPMIM=ECI

1500 U.S. Philly Fed business index USPFDB=ECI

1500 Euro zone Consumer confidence EUCONF=ECI

PRICES

Three month LME copper CMCU3

Most active ShFE copper SCFcv1

Three month LME aluminium CMAL3

Most active ShFE aluminium SAFcv1

Three month LME zinc CMZN3

Most active ShFE zinc SZNcv1

Three month LME lead CMPB3

Most active ShFE lead SPBcv1

Three month LME nickel CMNI3

Three month LME tin CMSN3

($1 = 6.0764 Chinese yuan)

(Reporting by Melanie Burton; Editing by Joseph Radford)

((melanie.burton@thomsonreuters.com)(+612 9373 1803)(Reuters Messaging: melanie.burton.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 

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