* Tin hits fresh three-year low
* Aluminium only metal in positive territory
* GRAPHIC-2019 asset returns: (Updates with closing prices, adds comment on aluminium)By Eric OnstadLONDON, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Most industrial metals pricesfell on Friday, weighed down by uncertainty over how much weakglobal economic growth is undermining demand, but aluminium roseon potential shortages. "People are taking stock and trying assess what the nextmove is, not just for the economy and the trade war but forcentral banks around the world," said Geordie Wilkes, head ofresearch at broker Sucden Financial in London."With the macro(economic) and trade war uncertainty, as wellas the situation in Hong Kong, from a demand perspective there'sdownside, but support can come from supply-side shocks, likewe've seen in nickel."Benchmark nickel on the London Metal Exchange hit a 16-monthpeak earlier this month on fears major producer Indonesia wouldbring forward an export ban of ore.On Friday, LME nickel shed 0.3% to $16,200 a tonnein final open-outcry trading, as investors took profits on arally that has sent prices up 35% since early July.On the Shanghai Futures Exchange, however, the most activenickel contract climbed as much as 3.7% to 127,700 yuan($18,132.51) a tonne.
* NICKEL SPREADS: The premium of LME cash nickel over thethree-month contract jumped to $40 a tonne, a decadehigh, signalling tight nearby supplies in the LME system.Traders said the tightness was probably largely due to alarge position on the LME. Data showed that oneparty had control of 50%-80% of available inventories andshort-term futures.
* PHILIPPINES: The Philippines' top exporter of high-gradenickel ore is expected to shut its mining operations soon as oredeposits are nearly depleted, a ministry official told Reuters.
* COPPER STOCKS: Over the past three days, copperinventories in LME-registered warehouses havejumped by 22% to 331,975 tonnes.
* COPPER OUTLOOK: "While tight mine supply supports copperquotations at present and a short-covering rally may at somestage push prices higher, we ultimately see only limited upsideto the red metal given the current macro backdrop," metalsstrategist Michael Widmer at Bank of America Merrill Lynch saidin a note.LME copper finished down 0.1% at $5,745 a tonne.
* CHINA OUTPUT: China produced 801,000 tonnes of refinedcopper in July, up 4.8% year-on-year, while alumina output was
up 2.9% in the same period to 6.22 million tonnes, official datashowed.
* ALUMINIUM: LME aluminium was the only metal inpositive territory, ending 0.6% higher at $1,792 a tonne amidongoing concerns about disruptions after floods in the smeltingheartland of China's eastern province of Shandong."Aluminium has seen an onshore (Chinese) bid, apparentlyprecipitated by flooding in Shandong, although low prices arealso clearly applying cost pressure to producers worldwide,"Alastair Munro at broker Marex Spectron said in a note.
* PRICES: Zinc closed down 0.1% at $2,261, lead slipped 1.2% to $2,039 and tin tumbled 3.3% to$16,575, the lowest since June 2016.
* For the top stories in metals and other news, click or ($1 = 7.0426 Chinese yuan)<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^LME three-month spread hits a decade-high amid supply worries ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Additional reporting by Mai Nguyen in Singapore; Editing byKirsten Donovan and Susan Fenton)