* BOJ doubles inflation target, adopts open-ended asset buying * China copper production up by 10.8 pct to 6.1 MT in 2012 By Susan Thomas LONDON, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Copper rose to its highest level in more than a week on Tuesday, following other commodities and equities markets higher after Japan's central bank promised unlimited asset buying to boost economic growth. The Bank of Japan, which has been under intense political pressure to overcome deflation, hiked its inflation target to 2 percent and said that from 2014 it would adopt an open-ended commitment to buy assets. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange rose 0.6 percent to $8,100 by 1013 GMT, from $8,055 at the close on Monday. It earlier hit $8,133.25 a tonne, its highest since Jan. 11. "The main driver today is the announcement out of Japan," T-Commodity metals consultant Gianclaudio Torlizzi said. "In the medium and the long term it represents a bullish driver for base metals because the Bank of Japan and the Federal Reserve are two of the main central banks which will continue to inject a lot of liquidity into the financial markets." There is also growing confidence in the strength of top metals consumer China's economic recovery. Still, metals buyers are wary of stocking up before the week-long Lunar New Year holiday in mid-February. "We still have to wait and see whether there is restocking ahead of Chinese new year - the spot market remains the same for now. Demand might pick up at the end of the first quarter, because of seasonality," said Chunlan Li, a Beijing-based copper analyst with consultancy CRU. Copper stocks in China's bonded warehouses hit a record high of over one million tonnes in November, and its refined copper output climbed more than 20 percent in December to a record 580,000 tonnes. The rising stockpiles, and production, could dampen China's appetite for spot imports and 2013 term shipments, and was likely to weigh on benchmark LME copper prices. A softer dollar versus a basket of currencies, and against the yen, supported base metals. A weaker dollar makes metals priced in the U.S. currency cheaper for holders of alternative currencies. ALUMINIUM China's aluminium production rose almost 24 percent in December. The country is the world's top producer of the metal. Three-month aluminium was up 0.3 percent at $2,046 per tonne from a last bid of $2,040.5 on Monday. LME zinc was up 0.5 percent at $2042 per tonne, from $2031.5 at the close on Monday, lead was up 0.4 percent at $2,310 from a last bid $2,300, tin was down 0.2 percent at $24,950 from $25,000 and nickel was up 0.6 percent at $17,490 from $17,380. Metal Prices at 1015 GMT Comex copper in cents/lb, LME prices in $/T and SHFE prices in yuan/T Metal Last Change Pct Move End 2012 Ytd Pct move COMEX Cu 368.35 1.40 +0.38 365.25 0.85 LME Alum 2047.50 3.50 +0.17 2073.00 -1.23 LME Cu 8101.50 46.50 +0.58 7931.00 2.15 LME Lead 2308.50 7.50 +0.33 2330.00 -0.92 LME Nickel 17470.00 90.00 +0.52 17060.00 2.40 LME Tin 24891.00 -134.00 -0.54 23400.00 6.37 LME Zinc 2040.50 9.00 +0.44 2080.00 -1.90 SHFE Alu 15265.00 10.00 +0.07 15435.00 -1.10 SHFE Cu* 58690.00 500.00 +0.86 57690.00 1.73 SHFE Zin 15485.00 120.00 +0.78 15625.00 -0.90 ** Benchmark month for COMEX copper * 3rd contract month for SHFE AL, CU and ZN SHFE ZN began trading on 26/3/07

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