* Tin tumbles to weakest level in 19 months * GRAPHIC-2022 asset returns: (Updates prices) By Eric Onstad LONDON, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Aluminium prices stumbled totheir lowest in 16 months on Thursday while other based metalsalso slid on renewed worries about weak demand after downbeateconomic data in top metals consumer China amid fresh COVID-19lockdowns. Benchmark aluminium on the London Metal Exchange(LME) fell 2.5% to $2,300 a tonne by 1600 GMT, its weakest sinceApril 2021. A private sector survey showed China's factory activitycontracted for the first time in three months in August whilenearly 70 Chinese cities reported declines in new home prices,the most since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. "Industrial metals are taking a beating. The growth angst ismost certainly having a profound impact across markets andreducing risk appetite once again," said Ole Hansen, head ofcommodity strategy at Saxo Bank in Copenhagen. Also hitting prices was news that the Chinese metropolis ofChengdu announced a lockdown of its 21.2 million residents, andthe dollar index spiked to a 20-year peak. Factory activity was weak globally, surveys showed, whileHansen said that an expected increase to interest rates nextweek by the European Central Bank also weighed on markets. "The supply side in metals could still be equallychallenged, but right now the focus is on the risk to demandfrom central bank actions," Hansen said. He added that investors were bailing out of some of theirbullish positions in energy-intensive metals aluminium and zinc,which many analysts had expected to outperform because ofproduction cutbacks in the face of high power prices.
LME tin tumbled 8.3% to a 19-month low of $20,895 atonne. "Tin prices lost support following a production ramp-up inAugust and persistently weak demand in major end-user sectorslike electronics," one China-based trader said. The premium of cash copper over the three-month contract rose to $52 a tonne, up from $29 two days ago,indicating short-term tightness in LME supplies. LME copper inventories have shed 13% over thepast three weeks to the lowest levels in over two months. LME copper lost 2.7% to $7,593.50 a tonne, zinc slumped 6.2% to $3,245, lead was down 2.4% at$1,904 and nickel dropped 5.1% to $20,325.
For the top stories in metals and other news, click or (Reporting by Eric OnstadAdditional reporting by Siyi Liu and Dominique Patton in BeijingEditing by David Goodman, Kirsten Donovan)
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