India copper down on high inventories, zinc up

MUMBAI, July 24 (Reuters) - India's copper futures were down for the third straight day on Thursday as weak demand from top consumers and rising LME inventories cast a bearish pressure on the industrial metal, analysts said.

"Bargain-hunting has pulled prices up from today's lows but the fundamentals of copper are still bearish," said an analyst at Motilal Oswal Commodities Broker Pvt Ltd.

At 3:43 p.m., the benchmark August copper MCCQ8 was at 340.90 rupees per kg, down 0.41 percent from the previous day.

August copper was expected to face resistance at 345.6 rupees and support at 338 rupees, the Motilal Oswal analyst said.

July zinc MZIN8 was at 81.55 rupees per kg, up 1.30 percent, on low LME stocks.

July lead MLDN8 traded at 93.30 rupees per kg, down 1.53 percent on profit-taking.

(Reporting by Ruchira Singh; Editing by Harish Nambiar)