India copper seen tad up on soft dollar; gold down

MUMBAI, Jan 6 (Reuters) - India copper futures may open slightly higher on Tuesday due to a weaker dollar, an analyst said.

A softer greenback makes the dollar-quoted red metal more expensive.

The benchmark February contract MCCG9 on the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) ended the last session at 159 rupees per kg. It may open at around 160 rupees, the analyst said.

Copper will largely be supported by a weaker dollar and strong LME prices, said an analyst with a commodity brokerage, who expects the benchmark contract to trade in the range of 152-166 rupees for the day.

January zinc MZIF9 ended at 62.45 rupees per kg, while lead for January MLDF9 closed at 54.70 rupees per kg.

GOLD:

Futures are expected to open slightly lower on Tuesday tracking global leads, analysts said.

Overseas gold extended losses early on Tuesday, slipping half a percent following Monday's drop of nearly two percent on dollar weakness and worries about physical demand from India, the world's largest consumer. See [ID:nSP415731] The MCX February contract MAUG9 closed at 13,329 rupees per 10 grams the previous session.

It may open around at 13,300 rupees per 10 grams and trade in the range of 13,100-13,470 rupees, they added.

(Reporting by Siddesh Mayenkar; Editing by Rohini Ananthan)