SHANGHAI (Dow Jones)--Copper on the Shanghai Futures Exchange gave up early gains Wednesday in a day of thin trade, with investors staying on the sidelines ahead of the conclusion of the U.S. Federal Reserve's June 21-22 policy committee meeting. Benchmark SHFE August copper settled CNY60, or 0.1%, lower at CNY67,850 a metric ton. Copper opened at an intraday high of CNY68,160/ton in response to overnight gains on the London Metal Exchange on the back of a stronger euro against the dollar as investors were confident the Greek government would survive a vote of confidence. But the euro fell against the dollar in Asian hours due to unabated concerns over the European sovereign debt situation, pressuring dollar-denominated LME copper and pushing Shanghai copper lower. A strong greenback makes LME metals more expensive for holders of other currencies. "Another reason we didn't see much price movement was that participants were just waiting...not that a lot of things would come out of the FOMC, it's just that people would like to see what exactly the Fed is going to say," Everbright Securities Futures analyst Xu Yongqi said. Investors will particularly watch the dollar's movement after the meeting, which may shed light on the U.S. central bank's monetary policy in the coming months as well as the possibility of another round of quantitative easing after the country's $600 billion bond-buying program is completed by the end of this month. Copper traded at the Changjiang Nonferrous Metals Trading Market, a major spot metals market in Shanghai, was quoted at CNY68,650/ton-CNY68,750/ton, tad up from CNY68,600/ton-CNY68,700/ton Tuesday. Three-month London Metal Exchange copper ended Tuesday's afternoon kerb $80 higher at $9,080/ton. It was quoted 0.4% lower at $9,047/ton around 0700 GMT, when the SHFE closed. China's lead demand is set to rise in the second half of this year after three lead-acid battery makers in Zhejiang recently resumed operations, said Shanghai Metals Market lead analyst Zhang Shu. All 273 lead-acid battery plants in the province were closed in April as part of a national crackdown due to environmental and health concerns. SHFE lead settled 0.3% higher, aluminum ended 0.8% higher, and zinc added 0.5%. Tuesday's settlement prices in yuan a ton and LME late kerb prices from Monday in dollars a ton: Metal SHFE LME Copper Aug 67,850 Down 60 3Mo 9,080 Up 80 Aluminum Aug 17,030 Up 45 3Mo 2,541 Up 11 Zinc Aug 17,175 Up 85 3Mo 2,212 Up 40.5 Lead Sep 16,765 Up 45 3Mo 2,458 Up 8 -Yue Li contributed to this article; Dow Jones Newswires; (8621) 6120 1200; yue.li@dowjones.com

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