LONDON, August 4: The London Metal Exchange (LME) copper closed with little change in quiet trading on Thursday. Traders said supply tightness continues to provide support, but the market is challenging buying at $3,600 per ton. Insufficient. Three-month copper closed at $3,575, down $11 from Wednesday's composite trading late in the day. One trader said: "Today's trading is lackluster. Although copper futures find solid support, there is not enough buying power to push forward the price challenge. 3,600." "The slight increase in LME copper stocks may have slightly cooled the market's heat even though North American copper mines are facing labor disputes." U.S. copper miner Asarco’s union workers have been on strike since early July and copper production has been cut in half. On Wednesday, workers at Grupo Mexico, the world’s third-largest copper miner, said they would stop working for one day to support the strike action of American subsidiary Asarco. “As the fund becomes a major force affecting the market, the market is more prone to profit-taking. "Slumping down." Adams of Basemetals.com stated in the daily report. "If the USD recovers some of its strength, or if the LME inventory unexpectedly increases, it may trigger this trend." " Due to thin trading and near-term uptrend, any correction may be very large." Three-month aluminum closed at 1,882.50 US dollars, yesterday reported 1,898 US dollars. Three-month nickel reported at 14,200 US dollars, fell 125 US dollars. The monthly lead reported $859/860, down $14. Three-month zinc was unchanged at $1,297. A trade union official stated that Teck Cominco, the world's largest zinc miner, and its large zinc-lead smelter in British Columbia, Canada Workers plan to meet again on Thursday to try to initiate negotiations to end the 16-day strike.