(Updates prices)LONDON, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Copper fell on Tuesday as stockmarkets and oil prices dived and the dollar strengthened, butprices remained near two-year highs as London Metal Exchange(LME) inventories hit 15-year lows and speculators bet on afurther rally.Benchmark copper on the LME was down 1.8% at$6,670.50 a tonne at 1600 GMT.The metal reached $6,830 on Sept. 1 - up more than 50% froma low in March - as demand from top consumer China revived andspeculative investors raised their punt on higher prices to thebiggest since June 2018. "The macro picture looks pretty strong," said Robin Bhar, anindependent analyst. "Activity in China is more or less back tonormal, and the fourth quarter tends to be a good period formetals activity and demand."
"The mantra has to be, buy the dips."
U.S.-CHINA: President Donald Trump on Monday again raisedthe idea of separating the U.S. and Chinese economies. Shares inChinese chipmaker SMIC plunged after news of potential U.S.sanctions against it.MARKETS: Tech stocks dragged U.S. share prices lower and oilfell more than 5%, while the dollar strengthened, makingdollar-priced metals more expensive for buyers with othercurrencies. STOCKS: Copper inventories in LME-registered warehouses fell1,000 tonnes to 76,550 tonnes, the lowest since December 2005,and a steep premium for cash copper over three-month metalpointed to a tight market. Stocks in Comex-registered warehouses in the United Statesare also declining, but inventories in Shanghai Futures Exchangeand Chinese bonded warehouses are up since June. CHINA: China's new bank loans are expected to have risen inAugust as the central bank spurred liquidity. Copper's rally hasfurther to run if the link between Chinese demand and creditavailability fully reasserts itself, analysts say.GERMANY: Weak German export data for July pointed to a sloweconomic recovery. TIN: Indonesia's refined tin exports in August were 6,158.67tonnes, up 11.6% year-on-year. OTHER METALS: LME aluminium was down 0.2% at$1,793.50 a tonne, zinc fell 3.7% to $2,417, nickel slipped 2% to $14,885, lead lost 3% to $1,911and tin was down 1.6% at $18,035. (Reporting by Peter Hobson; Additional reporting by Mai Nguyen;Editing by Alexander Smith, David Evans and Jan Harvey)