SINGAPORE - London copper prices broke a five-session winning streak on Tuesday, as conflicting signals over the trade dispute between the United States and China weighed on investor sentiment.

While both U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed optimism about resolving their trade war ahead of a planned meeting at the G20 conference in Argentina at the end of next week, relations have since faltered again.

Leaders attending the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit at the weekend in Papua New Guinea failed to agree to a joint communique for the first time in history, amid deep divisions between Washington and Beijing.

The failure of to agree on a communique was down to certain countries "excusing" protectionism and trying to force their views on others, a senior Chinese diplomat said on Monday.

"The trade tension has risen again over the weekend but base metals have held up and I think that's the consequence of the market taking a bit more of what fundamentals are suggesting," said ANZ's senior commodity strategist Daniel Hynes.

"I don't think it (the upside) is sustainable. There'll definitely be an overhang from those trade tensions restricting the upside in base metals until there's a little bit more clarity around a potential trade deal," Hynes said.

* COPPER: Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was down 0.6 percent at $6,224 a tonne by 0333 GMT. The most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange was almost flat at 49,680 yuan ($7,157.16) a tonne.

Other base metals were mostly steady, trading in narrow ranges.

* COPPER SUPPLY: Inventories of copper in LME-registered warehouses fell by 9,400 tonnes to 151,625 tonnes by Nov. 16, near last month's 10-year low of 136,675 tonnes, the latest data showed.

* U.S. DOLLAR: The dollar hit a near two-week low against its peers with sentiment soured by Federal Reserve caution on the global outlook and weak data at home, pointing to slower rate hikes. A weaker dollar makes it cheaper to buy dollar-denominated industrial metals for those using other currencies.

* U.S.-CHINA: China's Foreign Ministry said on Monday the United States, whose delegation at the summit was led by Vice President Mike Pence, attended APEC in a "blaze of anger", and that China had not gone to "get into a boxing ring".

* ZINC: A slide in zinc inventories on the London Metal Exchange to their lowest in more than a decade has wrong-footed bearish investors who are scrambling to cover or roll over futures positions before the November contract expiry.

* NICKEL: A Brazilian court has ordered Vale SA, , one of the world's top nickel producers, to stop mining iron or nickel at its Onça Puma unit and pay damages to two indigenous tribes in the area.

PRICES

Three month LME copper

Most active ShFE copper

Three month LME aluminium

Most active ShFE aluminium

Three month LME zinc

Most active ShFE zinc

Three month LME lead

Most active ShFE lead

Three month LME nickel

Most active ShFE nickel

Three month LME tin

Most active ShFE tin

ARBS ($1 = 6.9413 Chinese yuan)

(Reporting by Mai Nguyen; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)

© Reuters News 2018