(Updates with closing prices)By Peter HobsonLONDON, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Copper was set for a fifth week ofgains on Friday but the rally faltered after U.S. PresidentDonald Trump said he did not plan to meet China's Xi Jinpingbefore a March 1 deadline for the two countries to achieve atrade deal.The news reignited concern that the U.S-Chinese row willworsen, damaging the already weakening global economy andcurtailing metals demand. Global equities markets fell and the U.S. dollar wason track for its biggest weekly rise in six months, furtherpressuring metals by making them more expensive for buyersholding other currencies.Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME)closed down 0.6 percent at $6,210 a tonne, but was still uparound 1.2 percent this week after touching a two-month high of$6,289.50 on Thursday.
"New concerns about the trade dispute are clearly weighingon prices," said Commerzbank analyst Daniel Briesemann, addingthat an escalation could send copper back towards January's1-1/2 year low of $5,725 a tonne.
But he said that, if the two sides reach a deal, coppercould rise as high as $6,800 in the second quarter, helped bysupply shortfalls.
TRADE TALKS: The White House said the next round of U.S.trade talks with China will begin on February 11. EUROPE ECONOMY: The European Commission and the Bank ofEngland have sharply cut their forecasts for economic growth inthe euro zone and Britain.COPPER STOCKS: On-warrant copper stocks available to themarket in LME-registered warehouses have fallen to 87,725 tonnesfrom about 130,000 tonnes in mid-January and are near decadelows, pointing to an undersupplied market. CODELCO: Chilean state miner Codelco said heavy rains hadforced a suspension of operations at its northern copper minesChuquicamata and Ministro Hales. ZINC SPREAD: Cash zinc has moved from a premium to adiscount against the three-month LME contract for thefirst time since September, suggesting shortages in nearbysupply are easing.
RUSAL: Russia's Rusal said it expected aluminiumdemand to grow in 2019 and saw potential for prices to rise. Itsaid production outside China was flat at 27.6 million tonnes in2018 while demand rose by 2.8 percent to 30 million tonnes. METALS PRICES: LME aluminium ended down 0.7 percentat $1,880 a tonne, zinc fell 1 percent to $2,704, lead closed unchanged at $2,080 and tin rose 0.5percent to $21,050.
Nickel , which had seen the biggest rally of anyindustrial metal in recent weeks, finished down 3.2 percent at$12,570 a tonne, falling below its technically important 200-daymoving average.
(Reporting by Peter Hobson; Additional reporting by NaveenThukral; Editing by Kirsten Donovan, Edmund Blair and JanHarvey)