MUMBAI, Feb 10 (Reuters) - India copper futures were steady on Wednesday afternoon as pressure from lower-than expected Chinese copper imports was offset by a weaker dollar overseas, analysts said. The most-traded copper February contract MCCG0 was trading 0.18 percent lower at 306.40 rupees per kg at 3:48 p.m. China's imports of unwrought copper and semi-finished products fell 21 percent on the month in January, much less than expected as traders turned to material in bonded warehouses to cover local demand. See [ID:nTOE61805O] Copper stocks in the warehouses monitored by the London Metal Exchange (LME) rose 775 tonnes to be at 541,825 tonnes on Wednesday. "Chinese import data is turning out to be a negative factor for copper, today it can come down to 303 levels," said Praveen Singh senior analyst with Sharekhan Commodities. "Upside resistance could be seen at 311 rupees, and support is placed at 302 levels," said Parag Joshi, an analyst with Way 2 Wealth Securities. The dollar index .DXY, the gauge of the greenback performance against the basket of currencies, was 0.20 percent lower at 79.702. A weak dollar makes dollar-denominated commodities cheap for holders of other currencies and boosts demand. Intra-day traders can sell copper at 307/307.50, targeting 303, maintaining a stop loss of 310, said Singh. In other base metals, zinc February contract MZIG0 was trading 0.71 percent lower at 97.65 rupees per kg, while lead for February delivery MLDG0 was trading at 0.52 percent lower at 94.85 rupees per kg. Aluminium for February delivery MANG0 was 0.37 percent lower at 94.50 rupees per kg. Selling is recommended in aluminium at 94.30, targeting 93, naintaining a stop loss of 94.70 rupees, said Singh. (Reporting by Siddesh Mayenkar; Editing by Prem Udayabhanu)

Source