METALS-Nickel hits highest in nearly 9 months on Philippine supply concerns

* Zinc touches highest in almost seven months
* Lead hits strongest level since Jan. 23
* Yangshan copper premium extends losses

(Updates prices)
By Eric Onstad
LONDON, Aug 17 (Reuters) - Nickel prices surged to their
highest in nearly nine months on Monday on concern over supply
from the Philippines, the leading exporter of the stainless
steel raw material.
Copper and most other industrial metals also pushed higher
after the central bank of top commodities consumer China
injected fresh funds into the financial system. "This remains a liquidity-driven market. Most investors are
still expecting the Chinese economy to perform well in the
future, so they see good reason to stick to the bullish side of
the market," said Gianclaudio Torlizzi, a partner at Milan
consultancy T-Commodity.
Three-month nickel on the London Metal Exchange (LME)
CMNI3 had climbed 1.7% to $14,610 a tonne by 1600 GMT after
touching $14,700, its strongest since Nov. 25.
Nickel ore output from the Philippines, the world's biggest
exporter of the material, dropped 28% year on year to 102,310
tonnes by metal content over January-June, data showed.
Also supporting nickel were strong ShFE stainless steel
futures SHSScv1 , which climbed as much as 4.2% to 14,775 yuan
a tonne. Most nickel is used as an alloy to make stainless
steel.
* The Yangshan copper premium SMM-CUYP-CN , an indicator of
Chinese physical demand, fell to $74 a tonne, its lowest since
early April and down from $99 a month ago.
* LME copper CMCU3 advanced 1.3% to $6,449.50 a tonne,
though T-Commodity's Torlizzi was wary of the strong recent
gains that have lifted the price by 48% since March and prompted
him to take a short position.
"We think the risk of being long here is high and is very
vulnerable to disappointment."
* LME copper stocks MCUSTX-TOTAL sank to their lowest
levels in more than 12 years at 110,000 tonnes.
* LME zinc CMZN3 jumped 3.1% to $2,441.50 a tonne, its
highest in nearly seven months, as aluminium CMAL3 rose 0.8%
to $1,759.50.
Lead CMPB3 added 0.9% to $1,967.50 after touching $1,978,
its strongest since Jan. 23, but tin CMSN3 shed 0.9% to
$17,440.
* For the top stories in metals and other news, click
TOP/MTL or MET/L .

($1 = 6.9382 yuan)