Updates with mid-session trading

By Anushree Mukherjee

April 17 (Reuters) - Shanghai copper firmed on Thursday as investors assessed trade negotiations between the U.S. and Japan, which buoyed market sentiment.

The most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) SCFcv1 has risen by 0.4% to 75,860 yuan ($10,377.28) per ton as of 0629 GMT.

U.S. President Donald Trump said there was "big progress" when he made the surprise move on Wednesday to jump in on preliminary talks with a Japanese trade delegation in Washington about the barrage of tariffs he has imposed on global imports.

Japan is one of the first countries to formally kick off negotiations, an early test of Washington's willingness to cede ground on the duties that have roiled financial markets and stoked fear of recession.

The "Positive price actions in copper seen in today's Asian opening session have been triggered by Trump's positive comments after the conclusion of the first day of U.S.-Japan trade negotiation talks," said Kelvin Wong, OANDA's senior market analyst, Asia Pacific.

However, the tensions between China and the U.S. persisted, with Beijing ordering airlines to not take further deliveries of Boeing BA.N aircraft, while the U.S. government limited exports of Nvidia's NVDA.O H20 AI chips to China.

"If global GDP growth falls below 3%, we could see a reduction in copper demand by approximately 5%–10%," ANZ said.

The dollar index .DXY held near the three-year low it hit last week, making greenback-priced commodities cheaper for buyers using other currencies. USD/

The benchmark three-month copper CMCU3 on the London Metal Exchange $(LME.AU)$ was down 0.3% to $9,179 a metric ton.

LME aluminium CMAL3 gained 0.3% to $2,389.5 a ton, lead CMPB3 rose 0.5% to $1,916.5, nickel CMNI3 was steady at $15,675 a ton, zinc CMZN3 advanced 1.2% to $2,612, while tin CMSN3 was up 0.8% at $31,060.

SHFE aluminium SAFcv1 firmed 0.7% to 19,700 yuan a ton, zinc SZNcv1 fell 0.1% to 22,120 yuan, lead SPBcv1 eased 0.1% to 16,740 yuan, tin SSNcv1 lost 0.1% to 257,530 yuan and nickel SNIcv1 gained 0.8% to 125,720 yuan. ($1 = 7.3102 yuan)

(Reporting by Anushree Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Savio D'Souza)

((anushree.ashishMukherjee@thomsonreuters.com;))