MELBOURNE - Copper edged higher on Monday after China and the United States put their trade row on hold, easing concerns the dispute could escalate, although headwinds from a stronger dollar capped gains.    

"It appears that America and China have moved towards a trade deal which will mean the expansion of U.S. goods purchased by China and thus avoiding the prospect of an out and out trade war," said Kingdom Futures in a report.

The "risk on" sentiment spurred gains in Hong Kong shares and also metals, with the exception of aluminium, which was pressured by more than 100,000 tonnes of inflow last week, and nickel, which has not been able to beat technical resistance at 15,000 a tonne, it said.  

FUNDAMENTALS

* COPPER: Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange edged up by 0.3 percent to $6,873.50 a tonne by 0503 GMT, reversing small losses from the previous session. Prices have been caught in a tight $6,765-$6,900 range for the past week.

* Shanghai Futures Exchange copper also edged up by 0.5 percent to 51,490 yuan ($8,070) a tonne.

* TRADE: The U.S. trade war with China is "on hold" after the world's largest economies agreed to drop their tariff threats while they work on a wider trade agreement, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Sunday.

* DOLLAR: The dollar edged up against the yen on Monday, after Mnuchin's comments, boosting risk sentiment amid hopes for an easing of trade tensions between the world's two biggest economies.

* JAPAN ECONOMY: Japan's exports accelerated in April on increased shipments of cars and machines used to make semiconductors, suggesting healthy overseas demand could help the economy recover quickly from a dip in the first quarter.

* CHINA ECONOMY: China's economy will likely expand around 6.7 percent in the second quarter this year, the State Information Center (SIC) said in an article in the state-owned China Securities Journal on Saturday.

* COPPER: Vedanta Resources Plc's shutdown of its South Indian copper smelter, one of India's biggest, is causing a copper deficit and increased prices in India, its subsidiary Vedanta Ltd said on Friday.

* RUSAL: UC Rusal has not yet received any formal notice that sanctions target Oleg Deripaska has resigned from his board position at major Rusal shareholder EN+, the aluminium maker said on Monday.

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    MARKETS NEWS   

*  U.S. stock futures jumped on Monday as U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the U.S. trade war with China is "on hold" after the world's two largest economic powers agreed to drop their tariff threats while they work on a wider trade agreement.