* Aluminium hits lowest since August 2017
* LME inventories of aluminium up 22 pct in a month (Updates with closing prices)By Eric OnstadLONDON, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Nickel fell to an 11-month low onMonday on worries about stainless steel, while other base metalswere pressured by uncertainty about the global economy.Aluminium touched the weakest since August last year asspeculators piled on more bearish positions."The macro pressures continue to weigh on the downside, suchas China's growth situation, Europe's political uncertainty andalso the dollar's pretty strong," said Geordie Wilkes, head ofresearch at Sucden Financial in London."People are now looking to the G20 for some sort ofclarification, but I'm cautious about the negotiations on the(China-U.S.) trade war."In addition to the macro-economic concerns, nickel wasweighed down by the stainless steel market, the main source ofdemand for the metal."Stainless steel prices dropped a lot in the last two weeksbecause production is too high ... Investors are quite bearishabout the futures market," said Peter Peng of CRU Group.
Increasing nickel pig iron production and rising Shanghainickel inventory also pointed to further nickel weakness in theshort term, said analyst Helen Lau of Argonaut Securities.
Three-month nickel on the London Metal Exchange shed0.7 percent to close at $11,375 a tonne, its lowest since Dec.15 last year.
* DOLLAR: The dollar climbed to a 16-month high, makingdollar-denominated metals more expensive for buyers paying inother currencies.
* STEEL: Shanghai rebar steel prices tumbled nearly4 percent to the lowest since late July, pressured by worriesover slowing demand in top consumer China over the seasonallyweak winter period. That weighed on zinc, mainly used in galvanised steel, withthe LME price ending 1 percent weaker at $2,497.50 atonne.
* ALUMINIUM INVENTORIES: LME on-warrant aluminium stocks , those not earmarked for delivery, rose 5,550tonnes to 745,750, data showed on Monday. They have climbed 22percent over the past month.LME aluminium slipped 0.6 percent to finish at$1,942.50 a tonne, the lowest since Aug. 7 last year.
* COPPER: LME copper dipped 0.1 percent to close at$6,048 a tonne."Some Far Eastern short-covering on the London open todayhas been met by a resumption of CTA (Commodity Trade Advisor)selling," Alastair Munro at broker Marex Spectron said in anote.
* PRICES: Lead finished 2.4 percent weaker at $1,929a tonne while tin bucked the weaker trend and rose 0.6percent to $19,265.
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Top Base and Precious Metals Analysis - GFMS ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Additional reporting by Mai Nguyen in Singapore; Editing byMark Potter and David Evans)