By Julie Crust LONDON (Reuters) - Copper fell 5 percent on Tuesday on a stronger dollar and as a jump in inventories added to concerns about demand. "Demand has vanished. Supplies are still growing as evidenced by the inventory accumulation so there is more pain to come," Robin Bhar, an analyst at Calyon, said. Copper dragged all the industrial metals lower, with aluminium and nickel down around 4 percent. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was at $3,310 a tonne at 1210 GMT compared with Monday's close of $3,430. Prices fell 5.0 percent to a low of $3,259.50 a tonne. Stocks of copper and aluminium, the two biggest contracts on the LME, have been growing as prices for the two metals have slumped about 60 percent since last July's record highs. Copper inventories in LME warehouses jumped 15,425 tonnes -- the biggest one-day jump since September 4 -- to 409,100 tonnes, the highest price since January 2004 when prices were around $2,375. The stronger dollar, which makes metals more expensive to holders of other currencies, and weaker oil prices also pressured prices. Lower oil prices are an indication of weak demand for any commodity, Bhar said. Oil extended losses towards $33 a barrel on Tuesday, after Russia and Ukraine agreed on a gas deal that would help secure supplies to Europe, while no improvement was in sight for oil demand. Market watchers are waiting for China's fourth quarter gross domestic product data later this week for further signs of the economic health of one of the top users of industrial metals. China's economy in the fourth quarter probably grew 7.0 percent from a year earlier, posting its weakest expansion in nearly a decade, according to a recent Reuters poll of 28 economists. The forecast compares with 9.0 percent growth in Q3. Aluminium traded at $1,383 from $1,424 a tonne. It earlier fell 3.8 percent to $1,370 a tonne, the lowest price since July 2003, as inventories continued to climb. Aluminium stocks in LME warehouses rose 15,325 tonnes to 2.55 million tonnes, edging closer to the record high of 2.66 million in June 1994. Output cuts announced by producers have yet to impact the market and are so far being outweighed by the slump in demand. Daily average primary aluminium output in December fell to 68,700 tonnes from 69,900 in the year-earlier period, the International Aluminium Institute said. Its data does not include information from China. The global economic slowdown is expected to hit trading volumes this year on the LME. The exchange said it expects volumes to fall about 10 percent from last year, which would make it the first decline since 2005. Nickel fell as much as 4.2 percent to $10,830 a tonne. Prices for the metal, the main ingredient in stainless steel, have slumped about 80 percent since its record high of $51,800 a tonne in May 2007 as production cuts have failed to compensate for the lack of demand. Anglo American said on Tuesday it has suspended production at its Loma nickel mine in Venezuela. Lead fell to a low of $1,136 from $1,175. Lead stocks on the LME gained 4,175 tonnes to 49,700 tonnes, the highest level since October 2008 and the biggest one-day surge since June last year. Zinc fell 4.6 percent to a low of $1,202, while tin fell 3.8 percent to $10,725. | 
