SYDNEY, Dec 29 (Reuters) - London copper eased a touch in early...

SYDNEY, Dec 29 (Reuters) - London copper eased a touch in early Asian trading on Friday but remained close to a 4-year peak hit overnight amid a bullish outlook for demand and supply uncertainty.

Copper's upward momentum has put the metal used in a wide range of industrial and hi-tech applications on track for its largest annual rise since 2009. Prices in 2017 have galloped moe than 30 percent higher.

FUNDAMENTALS

• COPPER: Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange CMCU3 eased to $7,277 a tonne by 0124 GMT, down 0.2 percent from the close in more active London Metal Exchange trading overnight, where the contract reached $7,312.50 in intraday trading, its highest since January 2014. I
• SHFE: The most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange SCFcv1 climbed 0.3 percent to 55,600 yuan ($8,511)a tonne.

  IMPORTS: China accounts for about half of global copper demand estimated at around 23.5 million tonnes. Its imports rose to 329,168 tonnes in November, up 19 percent from the same period a year ago. [MTL/CHINA1]

  DEMAND: Analysts say China's copper demand growth may be as high as three percent in 2018 from around two percent this year.

  LABOUR: Analysts at Citi say there are over 30 labour contracts, covering around five million tonnes of copper mine supply, due to expire next year, most of them in Chile and Peru.

  OTHER METALS: With the exception of lead SPBcv1, the remainder of active ShFE base metals contracts were firmer, led by aluminium SAFcv1, up 1.5 percent and nickel SNIcv1 up 1.2 percent.

• For the top stories in metals and other news, click [TOP/MTL] or [MET/L]

  MARKETS NEWS

• Asian markets were ending 2017 in a party mood after a year in which a concerted pick-up in global growth boosted corporate profits and commodity prices, while benign inflation kept central banks from taking away the punch bowl.[MKTS/GLOB]
• METALS INDEX: Australia's metals & mining index .AXMM rises as much as 0.6 pct to its highest since March 2013.
• DOLLAR WALLOWS: The dollar wallowed near a one-month low against a basket of currencies on Friday, while currencies like the Australian and Canadian dollars were at two-month highs thanks to firmer commodity prices.[FRX/]

  PRICES Three month LME copper CMCU3 Most active ShFE copper SCFcv1 Three month LME aluminium CMAL3 Most active ShFE aluminium SAFcv1 Three month LME zinc CMZN3 Most active ShFE zinc SZNcv1 Three month LME lead CMPB3 Most active ShFE lead SPBcv1 Three month LME nickel CMNI3 Most active ShFE nickel SNIcv1 Three month LME tin CMSN3 Most active ShFE tin SSNcv1

  ARBS LMESHFCUc3 LMESHFALc3 LMESHFZNc3 LMESHFPBc3 LMESHFNIc3

($1 = 6.5322 Chinese yuan renminbi)

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