BEIJING, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Shanghai aluminium prices rose on Friday, buoyed by the first acceleration in China's GDP
growth in seven years and by a pollution alert in a major industrial province. The climb came even as the country's output of the metal on
Thursday posted a surprise jump for December. "GDP, industrial production and fixed asset investment all recorded strong growth," ANZ wrote in a note on Friday about the
China data. "The (metals) sector was also supported by some supply-side issues." Late on Thursday, the city of Zhengzhou, capital of the key
aluminium-smelting province of Henan, raised its alert for air pollution to red, the highest level, effective from Friday. That
means tighter curbs on output of industrial products, including metals. Heavy pollution in the Zhengzhou is expected to last until
Jan. 23, according to state news agency Xinhua. FUNDAMENTALS: * SHFE ALUMINIUM: The most-traded aluminium contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE) was up 0.75
percent at 14,730 yuan ($2,304.08) a tonne at 0518 GMT. It rose more than 1 percent in early trade, but is on course for a weekly drop of 2.5 percent.
* LME ALUMINIUM: In London, three-month aluminium edged down 0.3 percent to $2,235 a tonne, after ending up 2.2 percent in the previous session.
* CHINA: China's economy grew faster than expected in the fourth quarter of 2017, as an export recovery helped the country post its first annual acceleration in growth in seven years,
defying concerns that intensifying curbs on industry and credit would hurt expansion. * ALUMINIUM: China's aluminium production rebounded in
December to its highest since June, reversing five months of declines and lifting 2017 output to a record. * COPPER: The most-traded March copper contract in Shanghai
was down 0.1 percent at 53,640 a yuan a tonne. Three-month London copper rose 0.3 percent to $7,095 a tonne, building on Thursday's gain of 0.6 percent, after a force
majeure in Mongolia. * MONGOLIA: The Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine in Mongolia's southern Gobi Desert declared force majeure after protests by
Chinese coal haulers disrupted deliveries near the border, said majority owner Turquoise Hill. * LEAD: Lead was the biggest gainer among base
metals on the ShFE, rising 1.7 percent to 19,550 yuan a tonne after a red pollution alert in the key production hub of Jiyuan in Henan province.
* ZINC: Rising supplies of zinc over the next couple of years are unlikely to replenish dwindling inventories to the extent that the market stops fretting about shortages and
driving up prices towards the peaks seen in 2007. * NICKEL: The global nickel market deficit narrowed to 8,400 tonnes in November from 11,500 tonnes in the previous month, the
International Nickel Study Group said on Thursday.
