Nov 21 (Reuters) – Copper prices hit their highest in two months on Tuesday due to supply concerns in Peru and Panama, while a weaker U.S. dollar also lent support.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) CMCU3 rose 0.3% to $8,456 per metric ton by 0744 GMT, after earlier reaching $8,464.50, the highest since Sept. 15.

The most-traded December copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) SCFcv1 closed up 0.6% at 68,280 yuan ($9,468.74) a ton. It hit 68,550 yuan earlier in the session, the highest since Sept. 21.

“Renewed copper mine supply concerns have supported this move,” ANZ analysts said in a note.

Workers at Las Bambas copper mine in Peru will kick off an “indefinite” strike from next week, and First Quantum Minerals FM.TO will carry out maintenance at its Cobre Panama mine from Nov. 23 due to coal supplies being blocked by protesters.

The dollar index .DXY hit its lowest since Sept. 1 on expectation that U.S. interest rates would fall next year, making greenback-priced metals cheaper to holders of other currencies.

“We have seen bigger upside moves across the base metals complex, supported by a weaker dollar. Overall, we are becoming slightly more bullish for metals in the coming weeks,” broker Sucden Financial said in a note.

LME aluminium CMAL3 rose 0.4% to $2,253.50 a ton, nickel CMNI3 edged down 0.5% at $16,875, zinc CMZN3 dipped 0.2% to $2,558, lead CMPB3 eased 0.1% to $2,273.50 and tin CMSN3 lost 0.1% to $24,860.

SHFE aluminium SAFcv1 eased 0.1% to 18,920 yuan a ton, zinc SZNcv1 was down 0.8% at 21,210 yuan, while lead SPBcv1 fell 1.6% to 16,830 yuan and tin SSNcv1 shed 1.3% to 207,320 yuan.

Meanwhile, SHFE nickel hit a 14-month low of 132,370 yuan a ton. The contract is down 34% so far this year, the worst performer across all base metals on the SHFE due to oversupply concerns.

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($1 = 7.2111 yuan)

(Reporting by Mai Nguyen in Hanoi; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu, Varun H K and Mrigank Dhaniwala)