By Anna Stablum April 15 (Bloomberg) -- Copper declined in London as the dollar rose for the first time in five days, curbing demand for metals as an alternative asset. “The main market driver has been the dollar,” Steve Hardcastle, an analyst at Sucden Financial Ltd. in London, said by phone. “The Chinese economy is running extremely well, but there is a certain amount of price resistance at these high numbers.” Copper for delivery in three months fell $60, or 0.8 percent, to $7,890 a metric ton at 10:30 a.m. on the London Metal Exchange, after increasing as much as 0.6 percent. The contract touched $8,043.75 on April 12, the highest intraday price since Aug. 1, 2008. May-delivery copper was down 1 percent at $3.573 a pound on the Comex in New York, capping this year’s annual gain at 6.3 percent. Tin advanced to the highest since September 2008 and nickel rose to the highest in 23 months. “The Chinese are not too keen on fixing forward prices or long-term prices at these numbers, so the Chinese physical market is relatively quiet,” Hardcastle said. In China, the biggest consumer of industrial metals, industrial production climbed 18.1 percent in March, less than a 20.7 percent gain in the first two months, and retail sales increased 18 percent, today’s data showed. U.S. Industrial Production Industrial output in the U.S., copper’s second largest user, probably climbed 0.7 percent last month, above February’s 0.1 percent gain, according to a Bloomberg survey. The data is due at 2:15 p.m. in London. A report tomorrow might show that housing starts sped up to an annual rate of 610,000 in March from 575,000 a month earlier, a separate survey indicates. Copper stockpiles tracked by the LME rose for the first day in four, increasing 0.2 percent to 510,425 tons. Bookings to remove metal from stockpiles dropped for a third day, down 8.1 percent to 13,675 tons. Aluminum for three-month delivery on the LME fell 0.7 percent to $2,444 a ton. The contract reached $2,471 yesterday, the highest intraday price since Sept. 29, 2008. Siberia Aluminum Plants United Co. Rusal, the world’s biggest aluminum producer, plans to start two new smelters in Siberia with a combined capacity of 332,000 tons from September next year on expectations of improved demand. The first operating line of the Boguchansk plant will start in September, and the Taishet smelter in October, according to presentation notes of Chief Executive Officer Oleg Deripaska at a lunch in Melbourne. Zinc dropped 1.3 percent to $2,427.25 a ton. Zinc futures outstanding, or open interest, rose to a 13-month high, suggesting investors expect prices to advance. Open interest rose 0.2 percent to 342,135 contracts on April 13, the highest since March 2009, the latest data from the bourse show. Market open interest, reported by LME members and compiled by the exchange, gained almost 8 percent this month. That combined with a 2 percent rise in prices over the same period suggests investors are betting that prices will keep rising, said Robin Bhar, an analyst at Credit Agricole CIB in London. Tin eased 0.2 percent to $18,800 a ton, after reaching $18,991, the highest since Sept. 18, 2008. Nickel rose 0.2 percent to $26,450 a ton, after touching $26,712, the highest intraday price since May 15, 2008. Lead fell 2.3 percent to $2,304 a ton.

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