MELBOURNE, Dec 7 (Reuters) - London copper was treading water...

MELBOURNE, Dec 7 (Reuters) - London copper was treading water on Wednesday, but was largely buoyed by falling inventories and signs that global manufacturing activity will return to a healthier footing next year.

FUNDAMENTALS

• Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange CMCU3 edged down by 0.2 percent to $5873 a tonne by 0029 GMT. Prices have traded in a $5600-$6045 range since late November, peaking at $6045.50 a tonne last week which was the most expensive since June 2015.
• Shanghai Futures Exchange copper SCFcv1 edged down by 0.5 percent to 47,730 yuan ($6,930) a tonne.
• New orders for U.S. factory goods recorded their biggest increase in nearly 1-1/2 years in October, further evidence that the manufacturing sector is gradually recovering after a prolonged downturn.
• The copper market will go into deficit by 2020, just when Rio Tinto's (RIO) extension to the Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mongolia comes onstream, the company said on Tuesday.

• LME stocks have fallen to around 230,000 tonnes, the lowest since August, and down around 40 percent since late September. [MCUSTX-TOTAL]
• Codelco [COBRE.UL] is optimistic it can strike a deal with union leaders at its century-old Chuquicamata copper mine in northern Chile, it said this week as it embarked on complex contract negotiations.
• A flood of data from China in coming weeks is expected to show the economy continued to grow at a steady pace in November, with inflation quickening and credit expanding at a faster pace despite concerns about rising debt, a Reuters poll showed.

• The total net long position of funds trading copper on the London Metal Exchange rose 6.2 percent to a new record high of 78,054 lots last Friday from a net long position of 73,520 lots the previous week, the LME's Commitments of Traders Report (COTR) showed on Tuesday.
• The European Central Bank is expected to change the terms of its asset-purchase programme to alleviate a shortage of bonds and to extend the programme beyond its current end date in March 2017.
• For the top stories in metals and other news, click [TOP/MTL] or [MET/L]

  MARKETS NEWS

• Oil futures snapped a four-day rally on Tuesday on signs of higher output while the euro slipped from a three-week high ahead of a Thursday meeting of the European Central Bank. [MKTS/GLOB]

  DATA AHEAD (GMT) 0700 Germany Industrial output Oct 0745 France Current account Oct 0745 France Trade data Oct 0930 Britain Industrial output Oct

  PRICES Three month LME copper CMCU3 Most active ShFE copper SCFcv1 Three month LME aluminium CMAL3 Most active ShFE aluminium SAFcv1 Three month LME zinc CMZN3 Most active ShFE zinc SZNcv1 Three month LME lead CMPB3 Most active ShFE lead SPBcv1 Three month LME nickel CMNI3 Most active ShFE nickel SNIcv1 Three month LME tin CMSN3 Most active ShFE tin SSNcv1 ($1 = 6.8879 Chinese yuan)