BEIJING, Sept 23 (Reuters) - London copper prices edged lower in early Asian trade on Monday, as U.S.-China talks failed to send a positive signal towards a trade-row breakthrough.
The sentiment was dampened after Chinese officials unexpectedly cancelled a planned visit to U.S. farms following two days of talks.
Most industrial metals have lost ground so far in 2019 amid concerns the trade war will hurt demand.
FUNDAMENTALS
* COPPER: Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange slipped 0.3% to $5,781 a tonne as of 0153 GMT, after ending a four-day losing streak with a 0.2% gain on Friday. The most-traded November copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange was flat at 47,110 yuan ($6,643.73) a tonne.
* TRADE: The U.S. Trade Representative's office issued a statement characterising the talks with China as "productive" and said a principal-level trade meeting in Washington would take place in October as planned. China's Commerce Ministry described the talks as "constructive."
* COPPER: Pan Pacific Copper (PPC), Japan's top copper smelter, expects a global shortage in copper to be less acute next year as top consumer China's output increases and its demand growth softens amid the prolonged U.S.-Sino trade row, a company official said.
* CHINA: Chinese customs will report final trade data for August - including scrap metal and alumina imports - on Monday.
* OTHER METALS: All LME metals were slightly in the red except for lead, which was flat after earlier hitting a fresh six-month high of $2,126 a tonne. In Shanghai, nickel rose as much as 2.3% to a one-week high of 139,960 yuan a tonne, tracking a rise on the LME on Friday amid stockpiling by stainless steel producers.
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MARKETS NEWS
* Wall Street stock futures edged up in early trade on Monday, setting an upbeat tone for Asian markets.
DATA AHEAD (GMT)
0715 France Markit Mfg, Serv, Comp Flash PMIs Sept
0730 Germany Markit Mfg, Serv, Comp Flash PMIs Sept
0800 EU Markit Mfg, Serv, Comp Flash PMIs Sept1330 Brazil Current Account, Foreign Direct Invest Aug 1345 US Markit Mfg, Serv, Comp Flash PMIs Sept
PRICES
BASE METALS PRICES 0153 GMT Three month LME copper 5781 Most active ShFE copper 47110 Three month LME aluminium 1788.5 Most active ShFE aluminium 14205 Three month LME zinc 2298 Most active ShFE zinc 18845 Three month LME lead 2114.5 Most active ShFE lead 16895 Three month LME nickel 17385 Most active ShFE nickel 137900 Three month LME tin 16730 Most active ShFE tin 137550
LME/SHFE COPPER LMESHFCUc3 633.24 LME/SHFE ALUMINIUM LMESHFALc3 -234.97 LME/SHFE ZINC LMESHFZNc3 155.25 LME/SHFE LEAD LMESHFPBc3 -709.57 LME/SHFE NICKEL LMESHFNIc3 -4836.05