MELBOURNE, March 15 (Reuters) - London aluminium hovered near its lowest since late December on Thursday on expectations
of rising supply as China's winter pollution controls expire. FUNDAMENTALS: * ALUMINIUM: London Metal Exchange aluminium crept
up 0.2 percent to $2,094 a tonne, having slipped to the weakest since Dec. 19 at $2,087 on Wednesday. Support is seen at the 200
moving day average at $2,083, a break of which could trigger a steeper correction, as it would send a sell signal to momentum
following funds. * SHFE: Shanghai aluminium hit its lowest in 14 months at 13,820 yuan ($2,191) on Tuesday and last traded at
13,950 yuan. * SMOG: The winter heating season ended on Thursday. Aluminium smelters in 28 northern Chinese cities had been told
to reduce output by at least 30 percent from Nov. 15 to March 15, although the actual volume cut was below expectations, putting pressure on prices.
* OUTPUT: China's aluminium production fell 1.8 percent in January-February from a year earlier, data showed on Wednesday,
as the country's pollution crackdown and supply-side reform kicked in. An estimated 4.4 million tonnes of new capacity are
expected to be completed this year * STOCKS: Shfe aluminium stockpiles held at exchange warehouses are within a whisker of record highs near
850,000 tonnes, reflecting a surplus of domestic material. * DISCOUNT: The discount between cash Shfe and physical prices AL-A00-CCNMM has narrowed to 35 yuan from 385
three weeks ago, reflecting a tightening market and an expected pick-up in nearby demand. * COPPER: LME copper traded up 0.3 percent at $7,006
a tonne by 0157 GMT, adding to 0.6 percent gains from the previous session. Prices are expected to rise over the coming month as industrial production in the seasonally strongest
second quarter ramps up. * TRADE: The Trump administration is pressing China to cut its trade surplus with the United States by $100 billion, a
White House spokeswoman said on Wednesday. * COBALT: Glencore, the world's biggest producer of cobalt, has agreed to sell around a third of its cobalt
production over the next three years to Chinese battery recycler GEM. * SMOG: Eastern China's Jiangsu province will step up its
war on pollution and focus on "high-quality development" following a spike in smog early this year. * DOLLAR: Supporting metals, the dollar fell against the yen
on Thursday as lingering worries about global trade tensions weighed on investors' risk appetite.
