Oct 12 (Reuters) - Copper prices inched lower on Thursday, weighed down by rising inventory in London, although losses were cushioned by a soft U.S. dollar and expectations of more stimulus in top consumer China.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange declined 0.1% to $8,018.50 per metric ton by 0226 GMT, while the most-traded November copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange eased 0.1% to 66,580 yuan ($9,117.92) a ton.

Copper inventories in LME-registered warehouses rose to 179,675 tons, the highest since May 2022, having more than tripled in just three months.

The dollar was rooted near a two-week low after minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserve's last policy meeting showed policymakers taking a cautious stance.

A softer dollar makes greenback-priced metals cheaper to holders of other currencies.

Chinese policymakers are weighing a new round of stimulus with the issuance of at least 1 trillion yuan ($136.95 billion) of additional sovereign debt for spending on infrastructure, said a Bloomberg report.

Yangshan copper premium rose to $70 a ton, the highest since December 2022, signalling solid demand to import metal into China, where copper and aluminium consumption has been surprisingly resilient.

LME aluminium rose 0.1% to $2,215.50 a ton, nickel climbed 0.5% to $18,460, lead edged up 0.3% at $2,099, tin advanced 0.3% to $24,985, while zinc fell 0.3% to $2,470.

SHFE aluminium increased 0.1% to 19,110 yuan, lead rose 0.2% to 16,385 yuan, tin advanced 0.9% to 212,900 yuan, while nickel fell 1.2% to 148,550 yuan and zinc declined 0.5% to 21,195 yuan.

For the top stories in metals and other news, click or

DATA/EVENTS (GMT)

0600 Germany HICP Final YY Sept

1230 US PPI Machine Manuf'ing Sept

1800 US Federal Open Market Committee issues minutes

from its September 19-20 meeting

($1 = 7.3021 yuan) (Reporting by Mai Nguyen in Hanoi; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)