(Updates with closing prices)By Eric OnstadLONDON, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Aluminium prices slipped onTuesday as bearish speculators kept up selling pressure, whileother base metals were lacklustre ahead of the conclusion ofU.S.-China trade talks.Aluminium has been the worst performer on the London MetalExchange during the last two months on concerns about excesssupply that gathered momentum after the United States said itwould lift sanctions on Russian giant Rusal ."I've been pretty gloomy on the aluminium market for sometime and I expect more downside in coming months," said RossStrachan, senior commodities economist at Capital Economics inLondon."There are smelter re-starts in the U.S., a very largeexpansion in Bahrain, and in China you've got significantly moreproduction than at this time a year ago," he said."This is all coming at a time when demand is proving to berelatively soft and slowing in a number of the major markets."Aluminium closed down 0.8 percent at $1,864.50 atonne in final open outcry trading, rowing back some of itsrebound since touching $1,785.50 last week, the lowest in abouta year.
* ALUMINIUM SPECULATORS: Aluminium has the biggestspeculative net short position of the LME complex at 28 percentof open interest, a level not seen since November 2015,according to estimates by Marex Spectron detailed in a note.
* ALUMINIUM STOCKS: Excess supply was evident in a build-upof LME aluminium inventories , which rose again onTuesday, daily LME data showed. The stocks have surged nearly 40percent since mid October last year.
* U.S.-CHINA: The United States and China will continuetrade talks in Beijing for an unscheduled third day, a member ofthe U.S. delegation said on Tuesday, as the world's two largesteconomies looked to resolve their bitter trade dispute. The uncertainty was leading to muted activity, Strachansaid. "I think people are holding back before we've got any newson the trade talks or the (U.S. government) shutdown, which islingering in the background."
* DOLLAR: The dollar index rose 0.3 percent, snappinga three-day losing streak, weighing on metals as it makes themmore expensive for buyers using other currencies.
* COPPER TECHNICALS: Chart patterns are indicating that
downside momentum has receded in copper, St?(C)phanie Aymes, headof technical analysis at Societe Generale, said in a note.
"Copper is now inching towards the upper band of theshort-term down sloping trend at $5,980/$6,010... A break abovewill
mean signs of a larger recovery towards $6,079 and moreimportantly $6,108/$6,170."
* PRICES: LME copper fell 0.3 percent to end at$5,906 a tonne, zinc shed 0.5 percent to finish at$2,485, nickel gained 0.4 percent to $11,190, tin gained 1 percent to $19,940 and lead climbed 0.8percent to $1,969.
* For the top stories in metals, click <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Top Base and Precious Metals Analysis - GFMS ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Additional reporting by Tom Daly in Beijing; Editing by JanHarvey and Susan Fenton)
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