SYDNEY, April 5 (Reuters) - London metals edged higher on
Thursday as the global market mood lifted after comments by the
U.S. on China soothed concerns about an escalating trade spat
between the world's two biggest economies.
FUNDAMENTALS
* COPPER: London Metal Exchange copper edged up 0.2
percent to $6734.50 a tonne by 0704 GMT, after falling 1 percent
in the previous session. Prices are rebounding from a
three-month low of $6532 a tonne hit on March 23.
* SHFE: The Shanghai Futures Exchange was closed Thursday
for China's national Tomb Sweeping Day holiday.
* U.S. TRADE: The United States signalled its willingness on
Wednesday to try to resolve an escalating trade dispute with
China after Beijing retaliated against proposed U.S. tariffs on
$50 billion in Chinese goods by targeting key American
imports.
* CHINA TRADE: The U.S. and China should avoid a trade war,
China's Ambassador to the United States, Cui Tiankai, said on
Wednesday, stressing that Beijing's preference was to resolve
the dispute through negotiations.
* ALUMINIUM: Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE) aluminium
stocks have fallen for the first time in more than nine months,
giving the market faint hopes of a drawdown on record
inventories of the metal in China, the world's biggest aluminium
producer and consumer.
