METALS-Most base metals trade lower as firmer dollar weighs

Recasts paragraph 1 and updates prices

By Violet Li and Mei Mei Chu

SHANGHAI, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Base metal prices traded mostly lower on Monday, pressured by a strong dollar and potential cues from U.S. economic data, although optimism from China's policy meeting last week helped limit the losses.

China's central bank announced plans to cut the reserve requirement ratio and interest rates at an opportune moment in a statement from its quarterly monetary policy committee meeting on Friday.

China's decision highlights a broader strategy to stimulate growth in the world's second-largest economy, currently impacted by a struggling property sector affecting consumer wealth and household expenditure.

The dollar hovered near a two-year high on Monday, with traders eagerly awaiting this week's U.S. economic data. The key focus is December's non-farm payrolls report, which could provide insights into the Federal Reserve's interest rate plans.

A stronger dollar makes it more expensive for holders of other currencies to buy greenback-priced commodities.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was relatively unchanged at $8,874 per metric ton, as of 0156 GMT.

The most-traded January copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) SCFcv1 rose 1% to 73,760 yuan ($10,065.09)a ton by the end of the Asian afternoon trade session.

LME aluminium CMAl3 slid 0.2% to $2,487 a ton, nickel CMNI3 fell 0.6% to $15,025, zinc CMZN3 lost 0.2% to $2,881, tin CMSN3 slid 0.3% to $29,025, while lead CMPB3 was trading 0.1% higher at $1,924.

SHFE aluminium SAFcv1 was down 1.8% to 19,545 yuan a ton, nickel SNIcv1 fell 0.2% to 122,660 yuan, zinc SZNcv1 retreated 1.2% to 24,465 yuan, lead SPBcv1 gained 0.4% to 16,790 yuan, and tin SSNcv1 rose 1.7% to 247,210 yuan.

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($1 = 7.3283 Chinese yuan)

(Reporting by Violet Li and Mei Mei Chu; Editing by Janane Venkatraman and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)

((Violet.Li@thomsonreuters.com;))

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