SINGAPORE - Most industrial metals on Tuesday were trading in a tight range, as investors were cautious ahead of China's economic growth data to be released later this week.

"We will be getting quite a few macro numbers later this week and that should set the short-term tone for basemetals going forward," said Edward Meir, an independent commodity consultant with INTL FCStone Financial Inc., in a note.

China is scheduled to release a bundle of economic data on Wednesday, including the first-quarter economic growth figure.

"China had this massive credit expansion for March and if the March data still shows a lack of growth or a very weak (economy) then people will start to question about the effective need of the credit expansion," said analyst Helen Lau of Argonaut Securities.

FUNDAMENTALS

* LONDON PRICES: Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange eased 0.1 percent to $6,485.50 a tonne by 0350 GMT, while aluminium edged down 0.1 percent and nickel was up 0.2 percent.

* COPPER: Funds have this year played copper from the short side and from the long side but with little success either way, partly a reflection of copper's lack of directional impetus in recent weeks, said Reuters columnist Andy Home.

* ZINC PRICES: London zinc dipped 0.6 percent, on track for a second straight fall, while the most-active zinc contract in Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE) dropped 1.3 percent.

* ZINC INVENTORIES: Zinc inventories in LME-approved warehouse as of Friday shot up 7.5 percent from a day earlier to near a three-week high of 56,125 tonnes, latest data showed.

On-warrant zinc stocks in warehouses tracked by ShFE also marked a 7-percent daily increase on Monday to 51,976 tonnes.

"Zinc came under pressure after inventories on the LME rose sharply. The 7.5 percent increase was the biggest gain in almost a year," ANZ said in a note.

* RUSAL: Rusal, the world's largest aluminium producer outside China, is making its first investment in the United States since Washington lifted sanctions against the Russian aluminium giant, teaming up with U.S. manufacturer Braidy Industries to build a mill in Kentucky.

* TRADE: United States Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin told Fox Business Network on Monday that trade negotiations between Washington and their Chinese counterparts were "making a lot of progress."

Investors will shift more attention towards the progress of the trade talks should the Chinese economic data disappoint, Lau said.

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

(Reporting by Mai Nguyen; Editing by Shreejay Sinha)

© Reuters News 2019