* Tight supplies also supporting copper * Coming Up: U.S. housing starts; 1230 GMT July 19 (Reuters) - Copper hit its highest since mid-April on Tuesday as a weaker dollar and hopes Chinese demand will remain firm helped offset investor anxiety over U.S. and European sovereign debt concerns. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) traded at $9,800.25 a tonne by 0825 GMT compared with Monday's close of $9,694 a tonne. The metal used in power and construction earlier hit $9,826 a tonne, its highest since April 12. "We've seen quite a rebound in euro/dollar and equity markets ... It seems it is very much markets reconsidering that the debt crisis is not something that is going to weigh too much on global growth " Danske Bank analyst Christin Tuxen said. "Base metals are rebounding on this, maybe reconsidering that the situation at least in Asia is not that bad and indeed in our view we're likely to see Chinese demand for raw materials bounce back quite significantly within the next few months." The dollar dropped versus a basket of currencies with no resolution in sight for debt problems on either side of the Atlantic. The White House is seeking a last-ditch plan with Congress to raise the U.S. debt ceiling and European governments are struggling to reconcile competing proposals for a second bailout for Greece while trying to prevent the crisis from spreading through the region. "Despite all these uncertainties, we've seen copper very resilient to any downside risk and that could also be explained beyond the supply issues by what we see as healthy appetite from the Chinese despite their price sensitivity," said Xin Yi Chen, commodity analyst at Barclays Capital. Investors are optimistic demand from top copper consumer China will remain strong in the second half of the year given little sign that its monetary tightening efforts had sharply slowed the world's No. 2 economy, which grew a faster-than-forecast 9.5 percent in the second quarter. COPPER DEFICIT Market participants have been looking at a deficit in global copper supply this year, with shortage risks increased by weather and labour unrest hitting major mines in Chile and Indonesia. Copper inventories at LME warehouses rose 4,450 tonnes to 467,400 tonnes, latest data showed. MCU-STOCKS In macroeconomic news that may affect metals prices via currencies, investors will watch out for U.S. housing starts and permits for June, due at 1230 GMT Lead and zinc also hit their highest since mid-April. Zinc, used in galvanizing was at $2,475.25 from $2,431 a tonne, having earlier hit $2,482. Battery material lead was at $2,765 from $2,730 a tonne, having hit $2,779 a tonne. Aluminium was at $2,511.75 a tonne from $2,495. Nickel was at $24,030 a tonne from $23,825. Western Areas , Australia's third-largest nickel miner, is forecasting fiscal 2011/12 nickel production of 25,000-27,000 tonnes, versus a bumper 32,222 tonnes in the previous year, a company executive said. Tin was at $27,910 from $27,350 a tonne. "Overall we still see these firmer trends in the metals as likely to lead to better selling opportunities and would watch the charts careful for signs that the rallies are faltering," Basemetals.com analyst William Adams said in a note. Metal Prices at 0832 GMT Comex copper in cents/lb, LME prices in $/T and SHFE prices in yuan/T Metal Last Change Pct Move End 2010 Ytd Pct move COMEX Cu 446.00 6.15 +1.40 444.70 0.29 LME Alum 2495.00 1.00 +0.04 2470.00 1.01 LME Cu 9694.00 0.00 +0.00 9600.00 0.98 LME Lead 2730.00 22.00 +0.81 2550.00 7.06 LME Nickel 23800.00 -355.00 -1.47 24750.00 -3.84 LME Tin 27350.00 150.00 +0.55 26900.00 1.67 LME Zinc 2431.00 56.00 +2.36 2454.00 -0.94 SHFE Alu 17665.00 -10.00 -0.06 16840.00 4.90 SHFE Cu* 72830.00 920.00 +1.28 71850.00 1.36 SHFE Zin 18770.00 380.00 +2.07 19475.00 -3.62 ** Benchmark month for COMEX copper * 3rd contract month for SHFE AL, CU and ZN SHFE ZN began trading on 26/3/07

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