* Copper marks biggest weekly drop since August
* Zinc premium of cash over 3 months highest in over a year (Updates with closing prices)By Eric OnstadLONDON, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Nickel slumped to its lowest pricein nearly 11 months on Friday and other industrial metals slidas speculators unleashed more selling due to worries abouthigher U.S. interest rates and slowing Chinese economic growth.Copper suffered its biggest weekly drop since mid-August asinvestors shunned riskier assets such as commodities and shares.Prices took a hit after the U.S. central bank on Thursdayconfirmed a gradual rise in interest rates while data showedweak Chinese car sales. [nL4N1XK370}"Base metals are on the defensive ... and that's notsurprising because the dollar is very strong, we've seen someweakness on stock markets overnight and the Chinese currency isa bit weaker," Robin Bhar, head of metals research at SocieteGenerale in London, said earlier in the day.The stronger U.S. currency makes dollar-denominated metalsmore expensive for buyers paying in other currencies.
"There's still negative macro sentiment, which seems to bewinning the day, and for the moment investors seem happy to
either sit on the sidelines or hold short positions," Bharadded.While supply/demand fundamentals had supported copperprices, macroeconomic concerns such as U.S.-China trade tensionshave been capping gains in the metal used in power andconstruction. Copper hit a 4-1/2-year high in June.Three-month nickel on the London Metal Exchange closed down 2.7 percent at $11,460 a tonne, its weakest sinceDec. 15 last year.
* NICKEL TECHNICALS: Chart indicators show nickel has moredownside, St?(C)phanie Aymes, head of technical analysis at SocieteGenerale, said in a note. "Nickel could halt temporarily itsdown move once the next objective at $11,040 is met."
* COPPER: Three-month LME copper fell 1.6 percent tofinish at $6,056 a tonne, the lowest in a week, and chalked up
its biggest weekly loss since the week to Aug. 17 with a declineof over 3 percent.
* STEEL: Nickel and zinc, mainly used in the steel industry,were pressured after China's steel futures edged lower on Fridayand posted their second weekly drop amid signs that steel outputin the world's top producer would remain high. LME benchmark zinc erased losses and ended barelychanged, up 0.02 percent at $2,523 a tonne.
* ZINC SPREAD: The premium of cash zinc over the three-monthcontract surged to $65 a tonne, the highest sinceOctober last year, indicating nearby shortages of physicalrefined metal.
* LEAD: LME lead , which slipped 1.4 percent to closeat $1,977 a tonne, exhibits the largest speculative shortposition of the LME complex, according to Marex Spectron'sestimates based on Monday's close, a note said.
* PRICES: Aluminium dropped 1.8 percent to end at$1,955 while tin lost 0.9 percent to $19,150.<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Top Base and Precious Metals Analysis - GFMS ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Additional reporting by Mai Nguyen in Singapore; Editing byDale Hudson and Susan Fenton)