(Recasts, adds comment and London dateline)

By Pratima Desai

London, July 11 (Reuters) - Copper prices slipped on

Thursday as poor demand prospects particularly in top consumer

China and an oversupplied market were reinforced by further

inventory rises in London Metal Exchange approved warehouses.

Benchmark copper on the LME was down 0.4% at $9,868

a metric ton at 0913 GMT. Prices of the metal used in power and

construction have recovered since hitting 10-week lows of

$9485.5 on June 27.

Optimism that China's leaders will aim to boost growth with

stimulus at their third plenum meeting on July 15-18 had helped

support industrial metals in recent days.

"After the industrial metals managed to regain some lost

ground on renewed rumours of stimulus measures in China, it

seems that these hopes are fading again," said Julius Baer

analyst Carsten Menke.

"For the still struggling property market, we believe the

government's focus remains on reinstating trust rather than

starting a new construction wave."

Data releases over the next few days on China's yuan

loans and total social financing, widely watched by metals

analysts, could yield clues to future demand.

Stocks of copper in LME warehouses jumped 11,300 tons on

Wednesday taking the total to 206,775 tons, the highest since

October 2021 and nearly double the levels seen in the middle of

May.

Most of the deliveries are to warehouses in

South Korea and Taiwan, the closest delivery locations for

exports from China, usually a net importer.

Lack of concern about nearby supplies has pushed the

discount for the cash over the three-month copper contract

to a record high above $160 a ton.

Elsewhere, nickel bounced off the 14-week lows hit

on Wednesday on funds and traders squaring their bets on lower

prices after BHP Group ( BHP ) said it will suspend its Western

Australia nickel operations from October.

Nickel prices were last up 0.3% at $16,935 a ton. They

have come under pressure from higher LME stocks ,

which at 98,382 tons have more than doubled since November.

In other metals, aluminium climbed 0.4% to

$2,494, zinc gained 0.4% to $2,978, lead rose

0.6% to $2,192 and tin advanced 0.5% to $35,180.

(Reporting by Mai Nguyen in Hanoi; Editing by Eileen Soreng,

Sonia Cheema and Mrigank Dhaniwala)