METALS-Most base metals trade lower as firmer dollar weighs

(Recasts paragraph 1 and updates prices)

By Violet Li and Mei Mei Chu

SHANGHAI, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Base metal prices traded mostly lower on Monday, pressured by a strong dollar and potential cues from U.S. economic data, although optimism from China's policy meeting last week helped limit the losses.

China's central bank announced plans to cut the reserve requirement ratio and interest rates at an opportune moment in a statement from its quarterly monetary policy committee meeting on Friday.

China's decision highlights a broader strategy to stimulate growth in the world's second-largest economy, currently impacted by a struggling property sector affecting consumer wealth and household expenditure.

The dollar hovered near a two-year high on Monday, with traders eagerly awaiting this week's U.S. economic data. The key focus is December's non-farm payrolls report, which could provide insights into the Federal Reserve's interest rate plans.

A stronger dollar makes it more expensive for holders of other currencies to buy greenback-priced commodities.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was relatively unchanged at $8,874 per metric ton, as of 0156 GMT.

The most-traded January copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) rose 1% to 73,760 yuan ($10,065.09)a ton by the end of the Asian afternoon trade session.

LME aluminium slid 0.2% to $2,487 a ton, nickel fell 0.6% to $15,025, zinc lost 0.2% to $2,881, tin slid 0.3% to $29,025, while lead was trading 0.1% higher at $1,924.

SHFE aluminium was down 1.8% to 19,545 yuan a ton, nickel fell 0.2% to 122,660 yuan, zinc retreated 1.2% to 24,465 yuan, lead gained 0.4% to 16,790 yuan, and tin rose 1.7% to 247,210 yuan.

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($1 = 7.3283 Chinese yuan) (Reporting by Violet Li and Mei Mei Chu; Editing by Janane Venkatraman and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)