METALS-Copper eases from two-week high as rising stocks temper demand optimism

(Moves dateline to London, adds analyst comment, updates prices)

LONDON, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Copper dipped on Thursday after touching a two-week high in the previous session as rising inventories and a firmer dollar tempered optimism about a revival in demand from China, the world's top consumer of the metal.

Benchmark three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was down 0.1% to $13,304 per metric ton as of 1036 GMT.

Post-Lunar New Year gains had sent the metal to $13,350 in the previous session, the highest since February 11, while Shanghai Futures Exchange copper hit a similar high overnight.

"Usually the Chinese traders are slow to come back to the market after Lunar New Year but this year they have been back since Day 1," said SP Angel analyst John Meyer, adding that purchases could be aiming at strategic copper stockpiling or a new directive to build out data centres.

China's annual parliamentary gathering, which is set to release a five-year plan for 2026-30, gets under way in Beijing in early March.

The Yangshan premium , a gauge of China's appetite for copper imports, has risen to $51 a ton, versus $33 before the holiday.

The dollar index firmed slightly, making dollar-denominated metals more expensive for investors using other currencies, while high inventories were also weighing on prices.

LME copper stocks rose to 253,600 tons after a further 4,000 tons of inflows in the United States and South Korea. The total is the highest since March 2025 and comes after the evaporation of the Comex premium that had attracted so much metal to the U.S. exchange.

"I think lots of off-market copper has been chucked into warehouses for visibility and maybe for potential to catch higher prices," Meyer said.

The entire base metals complex was in the red. Aluminium fell 0.9% to $3,140.50, zinc lost 0.7% to $3,365.50, lead lost 0.2% to $1,986, nickel slipped 1.2% to $17,855 and tin shed 0.3% to $53,255. (Reporting by Tom Daly; additional reporting by Lewis Jackson and Dylan Duan; Editing by Rashmi Aich, Sonia Cheema and Jane Merriman)