Adds Fed comments and dollar, updates prices at 1330 GMT

By Eric Onstad

LONDON, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Copper prices rose on Wednesday, supported by hopes for U.S. interest rate cuts and persistent supply concerns following the suspension of a mine in leading producer Chile.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange CMCU3 rose 0.6% to $9,696 per metric ton by 1330 GMT after slipping by 0.6% in the previous session.

"A weaker dollar as Fed rate cuts bets intensify is buoying metals," said Ewa Manthey, commodities strategist at ING.

The dollar index .DXY weakened after a Federal Reserve official said U.S. interest rates may need to be cut in the near term in response to a slowing U.S. economy.

A softer dollar makes commodities priced in the U.S. currency cheaper for buyers using other currencies.

U.S. Comex copper futures HGc3 gained 0.8% to $4.42 a lb by 1205 GMT, bringing the premium of Comex over LME copper to $58 a ton.

Investors are also looking at developments in Chile, the world's largest copper producer, after the collapse at its El Teniente copper mine that killed six people due to a tremor last week.

Miner Codelco must produce four reports before it can restart its underground operations at the mine, which produced 356,000 tons of copper last year.

"It has been a mixed picture. Copper has been holding well throughout this week. Of course, the Codelco news got the micro story bringing some support to prices," said research analyst Yuting Du at broker Marex.

At the same time, some investors are placing bets on lower prices through puts in the option market, Du added.

The most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange SCFcv1 lost 0.3% to 78,280 yuan ($10,889.01) a ton.

Also helping the market were hopes for easing in a U.S.-China trade war after President Donald Trump said his country was close to a trade deal with China, the world's biggest metals consumer.

LME aluminium CMAL3 climbed 2% to $2,614 a ton, helped by firmer Chinese prices for raw material alumina, Marex said, while lead CMPB3 gained 1.2% to $1,997 a ton on short-covering. Both touched their highest in a week.

Among other metals, zinc CMZN3 advanced 1.5% to $2,798, nickel CMNI3 climbed 1% to $15,170, and tin CMSN3 added 0.9% to $33,550.

For the top stories in metals and other news, click

TOP/MTL or MET/L

($1 = 7.1889 Chinese yuan)

(Reporting by Eric Onstad; Editing by Ronojoy Mazumdar and Vijay Kishore)

((eric.onstad@thomsonreuters.com; +44 20 7542 7093; Twitter https://twitter.com/reutersEricO; Reuters Messaging: eric.onstad.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

 For related news and prices, click on the codes in brackets: LME price overview      RING= COMEX copper futures  0#HG: All metals news         MTL   All commodities news      C 
 Foreign exchange rates FX=SPEED GUIDES LME/INDEX