* Nickel slides to 6-1/2 month low
* Copper drops for nine consecutive sessions (Updates with closing prices)By Eric OnstadLONDON, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Copper fell for a ninthconsecutive session on Monday, the longest losing streak in sixyears, as investors worried that a spreading coronavirusoutbreak in China would hit demand in the world's biggest metalsconsumer.Copper tumbled to its weakest in three months, with otherindustrial metals also sliding as investors took flight.
The death toll from the virus rose to 81 on Monday as thegovernment extended the Lunar New Year holiday and more bigbusinesses shut down or told staff to work from home in aneffort to curb the outbreak. Copper, regarded as a bellwether of the global economy, hasgiven up all of its gains since early December when a rallypushed prices up nearly 10% to eight-month highs as investorswelcomed the first phase of a U.S.-China trade deal and hopedfor a rebound in economic growth.
"Chinese demand accounts for about 50% of the majority ofbase metals," said BMO Capital analyst Timothy Wood-Dow, notingthe spread of the virus."On Friday, we didn't know this, it seemed quite contained.Now this wider geographical spread is very concerning, so that'sfeeding through to the market."Wood-Dow added that Chinese economic growth could still hit6% this year if the virus is contained, aided by thegovernment's determination to bolster the economy.
"Probably infrastructure investment will just be pushed backto later in the year."
Benchmark three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange(LME) dropped 3.1% in final open-outcry trading to$5,743 a tonne, its lowest since Oct. 18.LME copper last week posted its steepest weekly loss in fiveyears, falling 5.5%, as the virus spread."Fingers crossed we will get good earning reports this weekfrom U.S. companies or else the panic selling will be evenworse," said one base metals trader who asked to remainanonymous.
FUNDAMENTALS
* NICKEL: LME nickel prices shed 2.8% to close at$12,615 a tonne, its lowest since July 9. The net speculativeshort position on the LME had risen to 2.9% of open interestlast Thursday, according to Marex Spectron estimates. "Whilstmodest in size, this is a level not seen in nickel since January2019," the broker's Alastair Munro said in a note.
* LEAD STOCKS: On-warrant LME lead inventories - material not earmarked for delivery - fell to50,025 tonnes, the lowest since July 26 last year, daily LMEdata showed.The premium for cash LME lead over the three-month contractrose to $12 a tonne, the highest since Oct. 31, indicatingtighter supplies. It has moved from a discount of $21.25 twoweeks ago.
LME three-month lead slipped 2.5% to close at $1,892a tonne after touching $1,870, its weakest since Dec. 9.
* PRICES: LME aluminium finished 1% down at $1,764,its lowest in nearly six weeks. Zinc tumbled 4.3% to$2,240, the lowest since Dec. 16, and tin dropped 3.4%to $16,270, its weakest in nearly two months.
* For the top stories in metals and other news, click or (Additonal reporting by Mai Nguyen in Hanoi and Zandi Shabalalain London; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and David Goodman)