* Copper rebounds 1.8 pct on LME, 1 pct in Shanghai
* Investors second guessing Fed, dollar moves
* Auto sales data supports, eyes on jobs report
By Nick Trevethan
SINGAPORE, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Copper prices rose on
Wednesday, with Shanghai metal up 1 percent and London futures
just shy of $6,600, as investors bet on a dollar sell-off after
a Federal Reserve meeting ends later in the day.
While the market expects the two-day U.S. Federal Reserve
meeting to leave rates unchanged, attention will be paid to
clues about future rate policy, the state of the economy and
signals the central bank will start to mop up some of the
liquidity it has hosed over the the market.
"The Fed statement will be a key document especially if
they hint they will start rolling back some stimulus. My
feeling is that they will acknowledge growth is up but wil do
nothing," MF Global analyst Edward Meir said.
"That will likely weigh on the dollar and perhaps the
market is anticipating that."
The greenback fell versus the euro at 1.4725, supporting
dollar-priced commodities.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange rose almost
2 percent or $115 to $6,575 a tonne by 0347 GMT, having earlier
come within $2 of round-number resistance, at $6,600.
Shanghai's benchmark contract rallied 0.9 percent to 51,220
yuan and the rise in prices -- copper has more than doubled
this year -- is prompting responses from the supply side.
China's Minmetals Non-ferrous Co Ltd plans to expand annual
production at its Sepon copper mine in Laos to around 80,500
tonnes of cathode from about 65,000 tonnes now, the firm's MMG
subsidiary said on Wednesday.
Underpinning sentiment, U.S. factory goods orders for
September beat expectations and auto sales ticked up to 834,517
vehicles from 834,271 a year ago.
But Meir warned the year-on-year performance was deceptive.
"Auto sales weren't bad, especially as the cash for
clunkers program is over, but remember this time last year no
one was buying.
"Detroit would like to see an annual rate of 11 million to
12 million. Breakeven is around 10 million units about where we
are with these numbers."
Aluminium ticked up by half a percent to $1,919 in London
and 15,245 yuan in Shanghai.
About 30 percent of the 35 million tonnes of aluminium
consumed annually goes into the transportation industry.
The other big data event is the U.S. monthly employment
report Friday. The unemployment rate is seen rising to 9.9
percent from 9.8 percent in September, with a 175,000 fall
non-farm payrolls.
"We are on a troubled path upwards. We see big retracements
on weak economic news, then get back on the road higher. The
plays are very short term," a trader in Singapore said.
"Look at zinc where you have the herd moving in and out all
the time, creating a lot of volatility."
LME zinc rallied 1.4 percent to $2,210.
Base metals prices at 0347 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct Move End 2008 Pct chg
09
LME Cu 6575.00 115.00 +1.78 3060.00
114.87
SHFE Cu* 51220.00 460.00 +0.91 23840.00
114.85
LME Alum 1919.00 11.00 +0.58 1535.00
25.02
SHFE Alum* 15245.00 70.00 +0.46 11540.00
32.11
COMEX Cu** 294.80 0.00 +0.00 139.50
111.33
LME Zinc 2210.00 30.00 +1.38 1208.00
82.95
SHFE Zinc 16895.00 170.00 +1.02 10120.00
66.95
LME Nickel 18100.00 300.00 +1.69 11700.00
54.70
LME Lead 2290.00 20.00 +0.88 999.00
129.23
LME/Shanghai arb^ 1297
Dollar/yuan 6.8268 \ 6.8290
** 1st contract month for COMEX copper
* 3rd contact month for SHFE aluminium, copper and zinc
^ LME 3-m copper in yuan, including 17 pct VAT, minus SHFE
third month
(Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
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