London copper inches up before China's GDP data release

London copper inched up in early Asian trading on Tuesday, as the market awaits the
release of China's economic growth data, hoping for signs of
expansion in the world's largest user of refiner copper. 
    
    FUNDAMENTALS :

    * Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange 
climbed 0.32 percent to $8,115.25 a tonne by 0115 GMT, extending
gains from the previous session. 

    * The most-traded April copper contract on the Shanghai  
Futures Exchange rose 1.6 percent to 59,250 yuan
($9,400) a tonne. 

    * Copper rose on Monday as investors decided that Standard &
Poor's downgrades of nine euro zone countries' credit ratings 
last week were largely priced in and focused instead on positive
fundamentals while awaiting key growth data from China.  

    * Lundin Mining said copper production rose 10
percent in the fourth quarter, helped partly by strong results
at its Neves-Corvo mine in Portugal.  

    * Inmet Mining Corp said it expected to produce at
least 18 percent more copper in 2012, with output of about
100,000 to 111,200 tonnes from its three mines in Turkey, Spain
and Finland, up from the 84,800 tonnes produced last year.

Source: Reuters