LONDON, Jan 29 (Reuters) – Aluminium prices rose on Tuesday as the dollar slipped and investors saw the previous session’s 2.8 percent plunge as overdone given falling stockpiles and efforts by top consumer China to stimulate growth. Monday’s drop came after the United States lifted sanctions on major aluminium Russian producer Rusal, while the London Metal Exchange (LME) said it would resume accepting all Rusal metal into its warehouses. The Rusal move was widely expected however, with investors moving their focus on Tuesday to falling stockpiles. Aluminium stocks in LME approved warehouses stand at 1.3 million, near their lowest since May 2018, while stocks in Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHfE) warehouses are at 690,000 tonnes, down 30 percent since last May. “We remain of the view that, with the market in heavy deficit and demand set to improve, the skew of price risk into mid-year is to the upside,” BMO Capital Markets said in a note.
* LME ALUMINIUM: Three-month LME aluminium had climbed 0.8 percent to $1,882 a tonne by 1114 GMT, bringing gains for the year to around 2 percent. Aluminium ended 2018 down 18.6 percent on bets the Rusal sanctions would be lifted and on U.S.-China trade tensions.
* OPEN INTEREST: Indicating potential for a short covering rally, aluminium exhibits the largest short in the base metals complex, equivalent to 22 percent of open interest, according to broker Marex Spectron.
* CHINA-GROWTH: China on Tuesday unveiled a flurry of measures aimed at spurring sales of items ranging from cars and appliances to information services, as the world’s second-largest economy grows at its slowest pace in nearly 30 years.
* OVERSOLD?: “Prices got oversold (last year) and you could see a restock coming through (in) the second quarter,” said William Adams, head of research at Fastmarkets.
* U.S.-CHINA: The United States on Monday announced criminal charges against China’s Huawei, escalating a fight with the world’s biggest telecommunications equipment maker days before trade talks between Washington and Beijing.
* CHINA-POLL: Activity in China’s vast manufacturing sector likely shrank for the second straight month in January, a Reuters poll showed, heightening concerns over the risks the Chinese slowdown poses to the global economy.
