Recasts, updates prices

BEIJING, Sept 23 (Reuters) -London copper prices climbed on Monday with signs of better demand in top consumer China and falling inventories.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange CMCU3 was 0.5% higher at $9,524.50 per metric ton by 0459 GMT.

The most-traded October copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange SCFcv1 was down 0.4% at 75,480 yuan ($10,712.92) a ton.

Copper prices hit their highest levels in two months after the U.S. FederalReserve kicked off its monetary easingcycle last week with a larger-than-usual half-percentage-point reduction.

A rate cut brightens the economic outlook and is expected to raise the demand for industrial metals.

Consumption of copper picked up with seasonal demand in China andpreviously falling prices.

Deliverable copper stocks on SHFE CU-STX-SGH fell further to 164,938 tons on Friday, and have more than halved from a multi-year peak in early June.

Yangshan copper premium SMM-CUYP-CN, an indicator of China'simport appetite, hit a nine-month high last week.

The marketis also watching out for more stimulus measures from China. On Monday, China's central bank supplied 14-day cash to its banking system for the first time in months and at a lower interest rate, signalling its intent to further ease monetary conditions.

Weighing on the market, the dollar hit its highest level in two weeks on Friday after the Bank of Japan left interest rates unchanged and indicated that it was not in a hurry to hike them again. It was up marginally in Asia hours on Monday.

LME aluminium CMAL3 slid 0.7% to $2,468.50 a ton, zinc CMZN3 was flat at $2,873, nickel CMNI3 declined 0.2% to $16,475, lead CMPB3 shed 0.6% to $2,043 while tin CMSN3 moved 0.1% higher to $32,145.

SHFE aluminium SAFcv1 declined 1.3% to 19,815 yuan a ton, nickel SNIcv1 nudged down 0.1% to 125,380 yuan, zinc SZNcv1 slipped 1.6% to 23,760 yuan, lead SPBcv1 fell 1.7% at 16,355 yuan and tin SSNcv1 moved 0.2% lower to 259,600 yuan.

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($1 = 7.0457 Chinese yuan renminbi)

Reporting by Siyi Liu and Colleen Howe; Editing by Varun H K and Eileen Soreng

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