BEIJING  - London copper prices rose in early Asian trade on Tuesday after the United States temporarily eased some trade restrictions on Chinese telecoms giant Huawei.

On Thursday, the U.S. government had added Huawei and 68 entities to an export blacklist that makes it nearly impossible for the Chinese company to purchase goods made in the United States, escalating Sino-U.S. trade tensions and weighing on prices for industrial metals.           

FUNDAMENTALS

COPPER: Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was up 0.4 percent at $6,054 a tonne, as of 0233 GMT, after closing down 0.4 percent in the previous session. The most-traded July copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange was flat at 47,740 yuan ($6,915.03) a tonne. 

COPPER: The global world refined copper market showed a 74,000 tonnes surplus in February, compared with a 33,000 tonnes deficit in January, the International Copper Study Group (ICSG) said in its latest monthly bulletin.

ALUMINIUM: Norwegian metals maker Norsk Hydro has been given the go-ahead by a Brazilian federal court to resume full output from the company's Alunorte alumina refinery.

HUAWEI: The U.S. Commerce Department will allow Huawei Technologies Co Ltd to purchase American-made goods in order to maintain existing networks and provide software updates to existing Huawei handsets.

LME: The London Metal Exchange (LME) has dismissed a complaint from miner and commodity trader Glencore over its inability to take fast delivery of aluminium from warehouses owned by ISTIM UK in Port Klang, Malaysia, two sources familiar with the matter said on Monday.

OTHER METALS: London nickel was the biggest gainer, rising as much as 1% to $12,095 a tonne, while Shanghai lead was the laggard, slumping 1.3%.

SCRAP: Malaysia's non-ferrous metals players are joining forces to promote their scrap processing business as clean amid growing environmental alarm over recycling, seeking to cling on to a trade that has grown fast as China's import curbs divert more scrap towards Southeast Asia.

COLUMN: Confusing signals cloud London nickel market: Andy Home

MARKETS NEWS   

Asian shares wobbled near four-month lows on mounting trade tensions.        

(Reporting by Tom Daly, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)

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