(Updates prices) By Polina Devitt LONDON, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Copper prices fell on Tuesday, under pressure from a stronger dollar and signs of muted demand from the world's biggest metals consumer China, although a decline in available stocks on the London Metal Exchange curbed losses. The benchmark three-month copper future on the LME was 0.6% lower at $10,626 a metric ton by 1604 GMT. "China is not a buyer at current price levels for now, and we are into the quiet part of the month from a trade flow perspective," said Alastair Munro, senior metals strategist at Marex, adding that gold's 5% fall also affected copper. The Yangshan copper premium , which reflects demand for China's imports, fell 38% over the past month to $36 a ton, its lowest since July, as copper's rise to a 16-month high of $11,000 on October 9 affected price-sensitive buyers. Many traders were also on the sidelines due to uncertainty ahead of U.S.-China trade talks in the run-up to a planned high-stakes meeting next week between leaders of the world's top two economies in South Korea. Providing some support to the metal was daily LME data showing that available copper stocks in the LME-registered warehouses fell to 127,350 tons, the lowest since July, after 2,000 of fresh cancellations in South Korea. Among other LME metals, aluminium rose 0.3% to $2,784.50 a ton. A U.S.-Canada trade deal on aluminium, steel and energy could be ready for approval at a summit in South Korea this month, Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper reported. Zinc gained 0.7% to $2,997, while the premium of the cash LME zinc contract over the three-month forward jumped to $295 a ton, a record high, indicating tight near-term availability in the LME system. "It has been the dislocation of the zinc stocks which continues to shake up the zinc markets," Munro said. LME zinc stocks of 37,275 tons are at the lowest since early 2023, although the global zinc market is on track for a surplus this year and next year. Lead lost 0.2% to $1,985.50, tin climbed 0.3% to $35,345, while nickel fell 0.2% to $15,180. (Reporting by Polina Devitt; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise, Susan Fenton and Shailesh Kuber) (The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)
