April 7 (Reuters) - Copper rose on Tuesday with the

prospect of stronger demand in China, even as investors remained

cautious over the Middle East war as Washington's deadline for

Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz loomed.

The benchmark three-month copper on the London Metal

Exchange rose 0.52% to $12,424 a metric ton as of 0305 GMT.

The most-active copper contract on the Shanghai

Futures Exchange gained 0.57% to 96,780 yuan ($14,069.11) a ton.

Copper stocks monitored by SHFE have been

declining since March 20, the exchange's weekly stock report

showed.

They have declined more than 30% to 301,088 tons as of Friday

from March 13, a sign of stronger demand as prices dropped over

the growth and inflation fears instilled by the Iran war, and

ahead of China's peak demand season.

The Yangshan copper premium , a gauge of China's

appetite for imported materials, held at $65 a ton as of Friday.

It earlier hit $69, the highest since June 2025.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump's Tuesday 8 p.m. EDT

(midnight GMT) deadline to the Iranian leadership to open the

Strait of Hormuz nears. Iran pushed back against Trump's threats

to rain "hell" on Tehran.

Brent futures sustained above $110 a barrel and the U.S.

dollar ticked upwards, putting pressure on the base metal

complex and capping copper's gains.

Aluminium turned lower, though Gulf supply concerns

persisted.

The London benchmark aluminium nudged 0.09% lower to

$3,466.50 a ton, and the Shanghai most-traded contract

declined 0.53% to 24,575 yuan a ton.

Emirates Global Aluminiumsaid on Friday that fully restoring

production at its Al Taweelah smelter in the UAE, which was hit

by an Iranian attack late last month, could take up to a year.

Elsewhere on the LME, zinc was unchanged, lead

ticked 0.05% higher, nickel dropped 0.24% and

tin nudged 0.03% lower.

Among other SHFE base metals, zinc dipped 0.13%,

lead dropped 0.24%, nickel lost 0.50% and tin

shed 0.18%.

Tuesday, April 7

DATA/EVENTS (GMT)

0750 France HCOB Serv, Comp PMIs March

0755 Germany HCOB Serv PMI March

0755 Germany HCOB Comp Final PMI March

0800 EU HCOB Serv, Comp Final PMIs March

0830 UK S&P Global PMI: Comp - output March

0830 UK Reserve Assets Total March

1230 US Durable Goods Feb

($1 = 6.8789 Chinese yuan renminbi)