MELBOURNE, Feb 13 (Reuters) - London copper extended gains to hit its highest in 20 months on Monday, driven up as supply worries swirled with shipments shut off from the world's two biggest copper mines.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange had rallied 1.4 percent to $6,172 a tonne by 0135 GMT. Prices earlier marked their strongest since May 2015 at $6,204 a tonne.
* Shanghai Futures Exchange copper surged 5.6 percent to 50,190 yuan ($7,297) a tonne.
* Other LME metals also rallied. LME zinc advanced 1.6 percent towards its highest in more than nine years, dragging up sister metal lead by 1 percent.
* In Shanghai, zinc rallied 4 percent, while lead and nickel climbed about 3 percent.
* BHP Billiton's Escondida in Chile, the world's largest copper mine, will not be able to meet its contractual obligations on metals shipments after a 2-day-old workers' strike brought production to a standstill, a company spokesman said on Friday.
* Freeport-McMoRan Inc said on Friday that an export ban remains in place at its copper mine in Indonesia, the world's second-biggest, because it has not yet reached agreement with the government on a new mining permit.
* Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Sunday he would not stand in the way of his minister's decision to close several mines in the southern Philippines after he saw the damage they had done to the environment.
* Comex copper speculators cut their net long position by 15,662 contracts to 85,477 in the week to Feb. 7, the lowest in about two weeks.
* Japan's economy expanded for a fourth straight quarter in the October-December period as strong trade demand and a pickup in capital expenditure underscored a steady export-led recovery.
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MARKETS NEWS
* The dollar rose against the yen on Monday on relief that U.S. President Donald Trump set aside tough campaign rhetoric over security and jobs in a smooth meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, with no mention of currency policy.
AVB Price at posting:
11.5¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
