* GRAPHIC-2019 asset returns: (Updates with closing prices)By Eric OnstadLONDON, March 6 (Reuters) - Aluminium and other industrialmetals drifted lower on Wednesday as investors awaited moresigns on whether demand in top metals consumer China wouldrebound after the Lunar New Year.So far, signs of metal demand in China have been lacklustre,with rising inventories in the world's second-largest economyand weak physical premiums.
"We're in a holding zone here with two key areas of focus.The China February macro data and secondly, whether we start tosee more evidence of a seasonal pick up in demand," said analystNicholas Snowdon at Deutsche Bank in London."There are more questions to be answered and in that context it's a point where you're not going to see investors buildingon positions built up over the past month or so, conviction willremain relatively limited."The London Metal Exchange index of six major basemetals has gained 5 percent over the past three weeks, with datashowing net long positions building up in many of the metals.LME benchmark aluminium dropped 0.4 percent to$1,866 a tonne in closing open outcry activity.
* GLOBAL GROWTH: Also weighing on the market were concernsabout global growth after the OECD on Tuesday cut forecastsagain for the global economy in 2019 and 2020, warning thattrade disputes and uncertainty over Brexit would hit worldcommerce and businesses.
* COPPER SPREADS: The premium of cash LME copper over thethree-month contract rose to $70 a tonne, the highestsince January 2015, indicating tight availability. Analysts saythe shortages are mainly in the LME system, with supplyavailable elsewhere. One trader said a large shipment of copperwas heading to LME warehouses.
LME three-month copper declined 0.2 percent tofinish at $6,468 a tonne.
* NICKEL: Shanghai nickel prices rose sharply on lowinventory levels and recovering demand.The most-traded May nickel contract on the Shanghai FuturesExchange rose as much as 1.9 percent to 106,460 yuan($15,859) a tonne, its highest since Oct. 10, before closing at106,040 yuan.
LME nickel fell 0.5 percent to end at $13,585 atonne.
* NICKEL STOCKS: LME nickel inventories extended theirdecline to the lowest since July 2013, data showed, whileChina's nickel ore inventory has dropped 12 percent so far thisyear, Argonaut Securities analyst Helen Lau wrote in a note.
* NPI: Brokerage Marex Spectron said it believed the recentnickel rally had been supported by maintenance at nickel pigiron plants in China's Inner Mongolia. "That was fuelled by ashortage of electricity with plans for shutdowns over this andthe near months," it wrote.
* PRICES: Zinc closed 0.3 percent firmer at $2,788 atonne, lead shed 0.3 percent to $2,095 and tin slipped 0.8 percent to $21,400.
($1 = 6.7127 Chinese yuan)
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Top Base and Precious Metals Analysis - GFMS ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Additional reporting by Tom Daly in BEIJING and Enrico DelaCruz in MANILA; Editing by Louise Heavens and David Evans)