* China Caixin PMI grows at slowest pace in more than a year * LME copper hits lowest in 10 days * Lead touches highest in over three weeks * GRAPHIC-2018 asset returns: (Updates with closing prices) By Eric Onstad LONDON, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Nickel sank to its lowest in morethan seven months on Monday, weighed down by worries aboutChina's economy, escalating trade tensions and weak steelprices. Manufacturing activity in China, the world's biggestconsumer of industrial metals, grew last month at its slowestrate in more than a year, with export orders shrinking for afifth month and employers cutting more staff, the Caixin/MarkitManufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index showed. "I'm surprised that any of the metals are up today, giventhe combination of the Caixin PMI in China, the lack of progresson NAFTA talks and the tit-for-tat tariff contest between Chinaand the U.S.," said Caroline Bain, chief commodities economistat Capital Economics in London. "Nickel is quite tied up with the stainless steel industry,which has been directly affected by tariffs already, so thatmight be why it has been particularly hard hit." Also weighing on nickel, mainly used to make stainlesssteel, was another fall in construction steel rebar prices inShanghai after their weakest weekly performance since lateMarch. Benchmark nickel on the London Metal Exchangetumbled to $12,695 a tonne, its lowest since Jan. 23, beforerecovering to $12,790 by the close of open-outcry trading. Thatrepresented a decline of 0.1 percent, adding to Friday's 3.7percent fall. * COPPER: LME copper slipped to its weakest sinceAug. 23 at $5,950.50 a tonne before paring losses to end at$5,967, down 0.1 percent. Prices on Friday fell 1.5 percent totake August's decline to 5.5 percent. It was the biggest monthlydrop in two years and the third monthly fall in a row.
* TRADE DISPUTES: Historically, a 1 percentage point declinein global trade growth has reduced copper prices by about 4percent, analyst Michael Widmer at Bank of America Merrill Lynchsaid in a note. "If global trade growth fell from April's 4.4 percent YoY tothe 2015/16 average of 1.7 percent, copper prices could correctby 10.8 percent YoY to $5,400/t."
* ZINC: Three-month zinc rose 0.2 percent to finishat $2,463 a tonne. "We note the sharp rise in reported Shanghaizinc CIF premiums from $160/tonne to $230," Alastair Munro, ofbroker Marex Spectron, said in a note. * LEAD: LME lead was the strongest performer,climbing 2.1 percent to close at $2,121 a tonne as inventoriescontinued to fall. It touched an intraday peak of $2,131.50, thestrongest since Aug. 9. On-warrant LME lead stocks fell by 1,050tonnes to 59,050 tonnes, the lowest level since June 2013, datashowed on Monday. * PRICES: Aluminium shed 1.3 percent to $2,097 atonne and tin dropped 0.8 percent to $18,840. <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Top Base and Precious Metals Analysis - GFMS ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Reporting by Eric OnstadEditing by Dale Hudson and David Goodman)
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