By Melanie Burton

SINGAPORE, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Copper fell on Monday as

traders played catch up after a week-long holiday in China, with

metals weighed down by signs of weaker global growth including a

deeper-than-expected recession in the euro zone.

There were mixed signals from China, as the top metals

consumer returns from its Lunar New Year break on Monday.

Shanghai copper futures fell more than 1 percent, but

Shanghai-based traders were also buying from bonded stock.

The most-traded May copper contract on the Shanghai Futures

Exchange had fallen 1.12 percent to 59,060 yuan

($9,500) a tonne by 0322 GMT. It earlier hit its lowest since

Jan. 30 at 58,980 a tonne.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange

dropped 0.49 percent to $8,167 a tonne, from the previous

session when it closed down 1 percent from the week before.

'China's overall economy is still strong, so the appetite

for base metals after Chinese New Year will gradually pick up,'

said Helen Lau, senior commodity analyst at UOB-Kay Hian in Hong

Kong.

China accounts for 40 percent of refined copper demand, with

Lau saying strong and steady growth in the country's

construction sector would underpin metals this year. Although

she added that significant upside is unlikely as a roaring pace

of growth has dropped back.

'People should not view consolidation as the start of a

weaker trend from here -- instead we would recommend it as a

chance to get in.'

London copper hit a 4-month-peak of $8,346 in early February

but has since struggled to gain traction. Traders hope that

China's return to the market this week could help set a floor

under prices.

The Group of 20 nations declared on Saturday there would be

no currency war and deferred plans to set new debt-cutting

targets, underlining broad concern about the fragile state of

the world economy.

Meanwhile, U.S. manufacturing got off to a weak start this

year as motor vehicle output tumbled in January, but a regional

rebound in factory activity suggested any setback would be

temporary.

Also continuing to drag on metals prices was news that the

euro zone slipped deeper than expected into recession in the

last three months of 2012 after its largest economies, Germany

and France, shrank at the end of a wretched year for the region.

MIXED COPPER

Traders reported selling of copper futures but purchases of

metal from bonded Shanghai inventories which are teetering near

record highs above 1 million tonnes.

'Many Chinese were long or reluctant to short in pre-Lunar

New Year trade as we've seen westerners pulling the market

higher to squeeze Chinese shorts in last few years,' a

Shanghai-based trader said.

'Now, bears are more confident to short on the almost

unchanged price during the holiday,' he added.

Another trader said that a comfortable market contango --

where futures prices are higher than front month prices -- had

fuelled demand for physical copper for financing.

Prices for copper in bond edged up around $5 to $55 from

before the break, the traders said.

PRICES

Base metals prices at 0322 GMT

Metal Last Change Pct Move YTD pct chg

LME Cu 8167.00 -40.00 -0.49 3.00

SHFE CU FUT MAY3 59060 -670 -1.12 2.39

HG COPPER MAR3 370.90 -2.80 -0.75 1.55

LME Alum 2151.25 -15.75 -0.73 3.87

SHFE AL FUT MAY3 15180 -30 -0.20 -1.08

LME Zinc 2161.00 -14.00 -0.64 4.72

SHFE ZN FUT MAY3 15780 235 +1.51 1.51

LME Nickel 18136.00 -239.00 -1.30 5.72

LME Lead 2425.00 -8.00 -0.33 3.63

SHFE PB FUT 15470.00 -25.00 -0.16 1.44

LME Tin 24800.00 0.00 +0.00 5.98

LME/Shanghai arb^ 754

Shanghai and COMEX contracts show most active months

($1 = 6.2325 Chinese yuan)

(Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Joseph Radford)

((melanie.burton@thomsonreuters.com)(+65 6870 3017)(Reuters

Messaging: melanie.burton.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

(Reuters 3000Xtra subscribers can access Metals Production Database by clicking on URL below http://mpd.session.rservices.com For related news and prices, click on the codes in brackets: LME price overview COMEX copper futures Base metals news All metals news All commodities news Metals diary Foreign exchange rates SPEED GUIDES)

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