Oct 4 (Reuters) - Copper prices fell on Wednesday, staying below a supportive level of $8,000 a metric ton, as a firm dollar and rising inventories in exchange warehouses weighed.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was down 0.4% at $7,976.50 a metric ton by 0233 GMT, having sunk below $8,000 on Tuesday for the first time since May 26.

LME aluminium fell 0.4% to $2,280.50 a ton, nickel declined 0.5% to $18,640, while zinc rose 0.1% to $2,505 and lead edged up 0.2% at $2,121.50.

The dollar charged higher to near an 11-month high on the back of upbeat U.S. job openings data that unexpectedly increased in August, making greenback-priced metals more expensive to holders of other currencies.

The discount of LME cash copper to the three-month contract was at $70 a ton, hovering near its 31-year wide level of $77.50 hit on Tuesday, as on-warrant inventory in LME warehouses of 166,475 tons were at their highest in two years.

The discount of LME cash nickel to the three-month contract expanded to $277.50 a ton on Tuesday, the widest since Aug. 15, as inventories in LME warehouses rose 14% in September alone.

In tin, the cash-three month contango also expanded to $307 a ton on Tuesday, the largest since Sept. 1, also because inventories in LME warehouses leaped to their highest level since April 2020.

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DATA/EVENTS (GMT)

0750 France S&P Global Serv PMI Sept

0750 France HCOB Composite PMI Sept

0755 Germany HCOB Services PMI Sept

0755 Germany HCOB Composite Final PMI Sept

0800 EU HCOB Services Final PMI Sept

0800 EU S&P Global Comp Final PMI Sept

0830 UK Composite PMI Final Sept

0830 UK Reserve Assets Total Sept

1345 US S&P Global Comp, Serv Final PMIs Sept

1400 US Factory Orders MM Aug

1400 US ISM N-Mfg PMI Sept

(Reporting by Mai Nguyen in Hanoi; Editing by Sonia Cheema)