(Changes comment, updates prices)
BEIJING, April 27 (Reuters) - London aluminium prices edged
lower on Friday after a 1.3 percent jump in the previous
session, as traders continued to grapple with the fallout from
U.S. sanctions on Russian producer Rusal ahead of a
two-day holiday in China.
"All of the metals remain within yesterday's ranges as
pre-Labour Day weekend positional re-adjustment seems to be the
main theme so far today," broker Marex Spectron said in a note.
Aluminium has lost about 8.2 percent in London this week,
having fallen sharply on Monday and Tuesday after the United
States gave American customers of Rusal more time to comply with
the sanctions, which were first announced on April 6.
This has left it on course for its biggest weekly drop since
August 2011, although it is still up 13.1 percent in April on
the back of Rusal concerns, which would be its best month since
September 2010.
FUNDAMENTALS
* LME ALUMINUM: Three-month aluminium on the London Metal
Exchange was down 0.4 percent at $2,265 a tonne by 0717
GMT, having risen by as much as 0.9 percent earlier in the
session.
* SHFE ALUMINIUM: The most-traded June aluminium contract on
the Shanghai Futures Exchange ended 0.5 percent higher
at 14,480 yuan ($2,283.91) a tonne. It has dropped 3.7 percent
this week, but gained 4.8 percent in April.
* RUSAL: Rusal's head of sales, Steve Hodgson, is
leaving the company, a source familiar with the matter said on
Thursday.
* COLUMN: U.S. sanctions on Rusal shatter aluminium's supply
chain: Andy Home
* COPPER: Copper was trading down 0.5 percent at
$6,928 a tonne on a firm dollar, which makes metals expensive
for holders of other currencies. Shanghai copper closed
down 0.3 percent at 51,560 yuan a tonne.
* COPPER: Chile's Escondida, the world's largest copper
mine, said on Thursday that early contract talks with its
workers' union ended without an agreement, setting the stage for
legally scheduled negotiations to begin in June.
* HOLIDAY: The ShFE will be closed on Monday and Tuesday for
the Labour Day holiday in China, the world's top metal consumer.
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MARKETS NEWS
* Asian shares rose on Friday after U.S. equities were
buoyed by a rebound in technology stocks, while markets in Seoul
were underpinned by optimism as leaders of North and South Korea
held their first summit in over a decade.
PRICES
BASE METALS PRICES 0717 GMT
Three month LME copper 6928
Most active ShFE copper 51560
Three month LME aluminium 2265.5
Most active ShFE aluminium 14475
Three month LME zinc 3134.5
Most active ShFE zinc 23950
Three month LME lead 2335
Most active ShFE lead 18365
Three month LME nickel 14145
Most active ShFE nickel 104730
Three month LME tin 21290
Most active ShFE tin 147680
BASE METALS ARBITRAGE
LME/SHFE COPPER LMESHFCUc3 414.58
LME/SHFE ALUMINIUM LMESHFALc3 -2212.65
LME/SHFE ZINC LMESHFZNc3 279.45
LME/SHFE LEAD LMESHFPBc3 309.9
LME/SHFE NICKEL LMESHFNIc3 -1569.9
($1 = 6.3400 Chinese yuan)
(Reporting by Tom Daly; Editing by Richard Pullin and Sherry
Jacob-Phillips)