* Weaker dollar helps push up metals prices
* China physical copper business remains slow - trader
* Coming up: U.S. Industrial Production for Jan at 1415 GMT
(Adds detail, updates prices)
By Melanie Burton
SHANGHAI, Feb 15 (Reuters) - London copper rose on
Wednesday after falling for three sessions, as the dollar fell
and markets waited for Greece's final steps to implement a debt
deal and avert a messy default, but lack of buying from China
capped gains.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange rose
0.9 percent to $8,488 a tonne by 0414 GMT, paring losses from
the previous session.
Copper has been falling since it hit a five-month high last
week. However, it is still up more than 11 percent so far this
year.
The most-traded May copper contract on the Shanghai Futures
Exchange traded up 1.1 percent at 60,760 yuan a tonne.
"The Greece saga is just dragging and dragging -- there's no
sense of closure and this week we're going to see more of the
same," metals analyst Edward Meir at INTL FCStone said.
"The markets are shifting their focus away from Greece,
which is almost discounted, and they're looking now more to
China. January imports were down and February are also likely to
be down. It doesn't look that hot over there right now."
Euro zone finance ministers dropped plans on Tuesday for a
special face-to-face meeting on Greece's new international
bailout, saying political party chiefs in Athens had failed to
provide the required commitment to reform.
Chinese central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan said China
would play a bigger role in solving Europe's problems, helping
send the euro rose to a two-month high versus the Japanese yen
on Wednesday and higher against the dollar, adding support to
metals.
China will continue to invest in eurozone
government debt, Chinese central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan
said, expressing his confidence in both the euro and in the
ability of Eurozone members to solve their debt problems.
A stronger dollar tempers demand for commodities which
become more expensive for holders of other currencies.
Demand in China , the world's top copper consumer,
has yet to pick up after its week-long Lunar New Year holidays
late in January, in part due to lower order visibility on
products for export to debt-laden Western economies.
January's total imports were 18.7 percent lower compared to
a record high of 508,942 tonnes in December 2011, as public
holidays slowed trade. Refined copper imports for January will
be announced next week.
China is likely to import less refined copper from the spot
market in February and March due to plentiful stocks and weak
demand which are also weighing on Shanghai prices, industry
sources said earlier this week.
"China's physical market is very soft. There's a few cheeky
bids around where people are happy to pick up things at low
premiums, but it doesn't mean the business is actually
happening," said a trader based in Singapore.
Base metals prices at 0414 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct Move YTD pct chg
LME Cu 8488.00 73.00 +0.87 11.68
SHFE CU FUT MAY2 60760 680 +1.13 9.75
HG COPPER MAR2 385.60 4.15 +1.09 12.22
LME Alum 2244.00 29.00 +1.31 11.09
SHFE AL FUT MAY2 16235 20 +0.12 2.46
LME Zinc 2068.00 36.00 +1.77 12.09
SHFE ZN FUT APR2 16045 110 +0.69 8.45
LME Nickel 20380.00 230.00 +1.14 8.93
LME Lead 2105.00 30.50 +1.47 3.44
SHFE PB FUT 15965.00 95.00 +0.60 4.45
LME Tin 24800.00 450.00 +1.85 29.17
LME/Shanghai arb^ 2062
Shanghai and COMEX contracts show most active months
