BEIJING  - Copper prices on the London Metal Exchange (LME) slipped for a second session on Thursday, after U.S. President Donald Trump said any trade deal with top metals consumer China would "need a different structure".

Copper had rallied at the start of the week after U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the prospect of a U.S.-China trade war was "on hold".        

FUNDAMENTALS

* LME COPPER: Three-month copper on the LME had fallen 0.3 percent to $6,846 a tonne by 0147 GMT, extending a 1.6-percent drop from the previous session.

* SHFE COPPER: The most-traded July copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange dropped by 1 percent to 51,340 yuan ($8,032.29) a tonne, snapping a five-day winning streak.

* GRASBERG: Global miner Rio Tinto Ltd confirmed on Wednesday that it was in discussions to sell its interest in the world's second largest copper mine to Indonesia's state mining holding company Inalum.

* INDIA: One person died and others were wounded by gunfire in southern India on Wednesday in fresh violence related to protesters' demands that a copper smelter be shut on environmental grounds.

* RUSAL: United Company Rusal resumed shipping aluminium to some customers last week following an extension of the deadline for companies to wind down contracts with the Russian firm under U.S. sanctions, sources said.

Meanwhile, the CEO of Russia's VTB Bank, Andrey Kostin, said on Wednesday the bank was ready to give aluminium producer Rusal more time to make repayments on its loans, TASS news agency reported.    

MARKETS NEWS   

* Asian shares moved lower on Thursday as investors fretted about the possible new setbacks in U.S.-China trade talks, but negative sentiment was tempered by U.S. Federal Reserve meeting minutes suggesting it would not raise the tempo at which it increases interest rates.         

DATA AHEAD (GMT)

0600  Germany     Detailed GDP Q1

0600  Germany     GfK consumer sentiment Jun

0645  France        Business climate May

1130  European Central Bank releases April meeting minutes

1230  U.S.           Weekly jobless claims

1300  U.S.           Monthly home price index Mar

1400  U.S.           Existing home sales Apr          

PRICES       

BASE METALS PRICES                       0153 GMT

Three month LME copper                   6850

Most active ShFE copper                    51340

Three month LME aluminium              2272.5

Most active ShFE aluminium               14650

Three month LME zinc                       3020.5

Most active ShFE zinc                        23415

Three month LME lead                       2480

Most active ShFE lead                       20475

Three month LME nickel                     14585

Most active ShFE nickel                    107920

Three month LME tin                         20585

Most active ShFE tin                        147350                                                 

 BASE METALS ARBITRAGE                           

 LME/SHFE COPPER           LMESHFCUc3    344.62

LME/SHFE ALUMINIUM      LMESHFALc3    -2243

LME/SHFE ZINC               LMESHFZNc3     459.37

LME/SHFE LEAD               LMESHFPBc3     310.76

LME/SHFE NICKEL            LMESHFNIc3     -2573.2

($1 = 6.3917 Chinese yuan renminbi)   

(Reporting by Tom Daly Editing by Joseph Radford)

© Reuters News 2018