* More policy fine-tuning in China until congress - analysts * Rio Tinto sees production growth ahead for its copper arm * Coming up: ECB'S Draghi to speak in Brussels; 0730 GMT (Updates prices; adds quotes, details) By Carrie Ho SHANGHAI, Oct 9 (Reuters) - London copper edged up on Tuesday, coming off its lowest in more than a week hit in the previous session, on hopes top metals consumer China could roll out more pro-growth policies ahead of a key leadership congress next month to stabilise its economy. Still, copper prices are likely to stay in a tight range ahead of a slew of key economic data from China this week, while nagging euro zone debt woes and a gloomy report from the OECD on the world's major economies is set to cap gains. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange crept up 0.2 percent to $8,202.25 per tonne by 0714 GMT, after falling 1.3 percent on Monday. Copper hit a low of $8,128 on Monday, its weakest since Sept. 27. The most active January copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose 0.5 percent to close the session at 59,230 yuan ($9,400) per tonne. "Prices have risen partly because some investors believe copper was oversold yesterday. There is also renewed expectations of China rolling out new measures to bolster the economy," said Andy Du, derivatives director at Orient Futures. Analysts said they expect the Chinese government to announce more moves, such as reverse bond repurchases and strategic stock investments to boost the stock market. "Losses in base metal prices will be capped despite weak fundamentals and global economic worries as investors expect Beijing to do the necessary fine-tuning to stabilise the economy before the 18th Communist Party Congress," said CIFCO Futures analyst Zhou Jie, referring to China's leadership transition event scheduled on Nov. 8. "But I don't expect any major easing or stimulus policies in China in the meantime." In Chinese copper physical markets, traders said consumer demand was still weak with spot prices trading at a 150-yuan discount to ShFE front-month copper prices. "Chinese physical copper demand is still sluggish and this will pull down futures prices over the medium term unless we see more stimulus policies or signs of the global economy improving," a Shanghai-based physical trader said. The market also took note of comments by Rio Tinto that it saw production growth ahead for its copper arm and remained "optimistic" on the outcome of talks with China on a power deal for its key Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold project. The miner, however, warned it was cautious on the broader economic outlook. Euro zone sentiment improved for the second consecutive month in October, while its largest economy Germany saw its trade surplus hit its highest level in five years in August. However, Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain are still struggling with crippling debts. Greece has failed to meet bailout conditions, and Monday's meeting among euro zone finance ministers and the International Monetary Fund also failed to decide how best to get Greece back on track with its bailout programme. In other metals, aluminium dropped 0.3 percent on Shanghai and 0.04 percent on London. "Our recent study showed total aluminium inventories in China jumping by 100,000 tonnes over the National Day holiday period to around 1 million tonnes," said Shanghai Metal Markets analyst Zhang Chenguang. "Supply has swelled this year due to subsidies given to aluminium smelters by local governments. We estimate an oversupply of around 700,000 tonnes in the Chinese market this year," he added. Base metals prices at 0714 GMT Metal Last Change Pct Move YTD pct chg LME Cu 8202.25 17.25 +0.21 7.92 SHFE CU FUT JAN3 59230 300 +0.51 6.47 LME Alum 2081.75 -0.75 -0.04 3.06 SHFE AL FUT JAN3 15665 -40 -0.25 -1.10 HG COPPER DEC2 373.45 1.65 +0.44 8.69 LME Zinc 2044.00 10.00 +0.49 10.79 SHFE ZN FUT JAN3 15575 55 +0.35 5.27 LME Nickel 18141.00 66.00 +0.37 -3.04 LME Lead 2263.00 3.00 +0.13 11.20 SHFE PB FUT 16030 -10 -0.06 4.84 LME Tin 22150.00 50.00 +0.23 15.36 LME/Shanghai arb 1100 Shanghai and COMEX contracts show most active months ^ LME 3-m copper in yuan, including 17 pct VAT, minus SHFE third month ($1 = 6.2872 Chinese yuan)

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