By Humeyra Pamuk LONDON (Reuters) - Copper slipped on Tuesday on a lack of Chinese buying despite a fall in the value of the dollar, while tin rallied as funds bet on the metal's strong fundamentals, traders and analysts said. Copper prices have been under pressure due to lack of buying from China, where many investors had looked to take up the slack caused by a slowdown in the United States. Copper for three-months delivery on the London Metal Exchange was at $7,926 per tonne in the open outcry trade, down $4 Monday's close. "We see the dollar weakening against the euro and metals benefit from that," said analyst Leon Westgate at Standard Bank. The dollar fell broadly while the low-yielding yen rose after a report that U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers may raise new capital intensified concerns about the state of the global financial sector. Copper hit a record high of $8,880 per tonne in mid-April but since then has lost around 10 percent. One LME trader said copper would struggle to go higher as a long-awaited pick-up in Chinese demand had not yet kicked. "It's just drifting," he said. Analysts expect Chinese imports of refined copper to fall by more than 6 percent in May and June from April as demand growth slows and domestic output rises. "We've got some data coming out today and Bernanke's speech," a second LME trader said. Metals markets are sensitive to reports of macroeconomic data to find out more about the U.S. slowdown, which is curbing demand from the world's second biggest metals consumer. OPPORTUNITY Tin prices, the star performer of the year, jumped by 5 percent. At the mid-session, three-months tin was $550 higher at $21,500. "There has been a lot of fund investment in tin and the stocks have been declining," the second LME trader said. "The fund industry is jumping on what it sees as an opportunity on the back of strong fundamentals." Supply problems in Indonesia, the world's second biggest tin producer and in Congo had prompted investors to pour funds into tin, which pushed it to a record high of $25,500 per tonne in mid-May. Zinc was almost unchanged at $1,970.5 per tonne from Monday's $1,970. Workers at Teck Cominco's Trail lead and zinc plant in British Columbia are continuing negotiations with the company after a wage agreement expired on May 31, and there are no indication the union would threaten a work stoppage. Elsewhere labour tensions are simmering. Workers in Peru are threatening a strike for mid-June and in Mexico and Chile disputes could also flare, affecting copper production. Lead rose $33 to $2,046 a tonne, but losses, which have seen lead fall by 20 percent this year, would continue technical analysts said. Aluminium shed $10 to $2,920 as supply problems were seen supporting the prices. | 
