* Aluminium touches lowest since August 2017
* Lead weakens after inventories rise
* LME copper stocks reach lowest since July 2008
* Nickel steady after previous session's 10-month low (Adds closing prices, zinc spread)By Eric OnstadLONDON, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Aluminium slumped to its lowestin more than a year, with other base metals also falling onTuesday, on fresh concerns that a U.S.-China trade war wasdampening global growth.Selling pressure intensified after U.S. President DonaldTrump warned he had billions of dollars of new tariffs ready togo if a trade deal with China was not possible. "Comments overnight added further fuel to the fire in termsof the risk of further escalation and downside risk to Chinesegrowth," said Deutsche Bank analyst Nicholas Snowdon in London.China is the biggest consumer of industrial metals,accounting for more than half of global aluminium demand.The world's biggest mining company BHP Billiton onTuesday trimmed its expectations of global growth for next yearand 2020, citing the U.S.-China trade conflict. Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping are expected toattend next month's G20 summit in Buenos Aires, where they couldmeet."The concern is that if things don't pan out in a positiveway with Xi and Trump meeting, then we could be taking a furtherstep in terms of deteriorating trade relations," Snowdon added.Three-month aluminium on the London Metal Exchange ended 0.8 percent lower at $1,967 a tonne, its weakest sinceAugust 2017.
* COPPER: LME copper dropped 2.1 percent to $6,032 atonne, its lowest since Sept. 18.
* COPPER INVENTORIES: LME copper stocks slidto their lowest since July 2008, having slumped 64 percent sincepeaking in late March."We're getting down to multi-year lows in LME stock levelsand at some point the market will have to shift away from macroconcerns and back towards the significant tightening in themicro market," Snowdon said.
* COPPER PREMIUMS: The premium of the LME copper cashcontract over the three-month contract was last at $26a tonne, having hit a three-year high of $47 on Friday in a signof immediate market tightness.
* LEAD STOCKS: LME lead finished 0.9 percent lowerat $1,939 a tonne, its weakest since Oct. 11, after a surge ininventories.LME on-warrant stocks - those not earmarked for delivery -jumped 30 percent overnight to 83,625 tonnes, LME data showed.
* NICKEL: LME nickel edged up 0.1 percent to
$11,770 a tonne, hovering above the 10-month low of $11,700 hiton Monday.
* PRICES: LME zinc dropped 2.7 percent to $2,550 atonne, the lowest since Sept. 28, while tin fell 0.3percent to $19,075.
* SPREADS: The premium for cash zinc over the three-monthLME contract, at $53.50, remains close to last week's $63one-year high, signalling tight nearby supply.
* DOLLAR: Adding to the pressure on metals was a strongdollar, which held near a 2 1/2-month high. <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Top Base and Precious Metals Analysis - GFMS ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Reporting by Eric Onstad; Editing by David Goodman and MarkPotter)