UPDATE 9-Rising stocks, demand worries weigh on aluminium

* Higher aluminium stocks, weak auto demand

* Chinese demand worries undermine copper

* Lead down on sluggish demand in Asia (Updates with New York closing copper prices, adds analyst comment)

By Julie Crust

LONDON, July 16 (Reuters) - Aluminium prices fell on Wednesday as the market worried about rising stocks and soft demand from auto makers, while fears of slowing demand from China pushed copper lower.

Aluminium MAL3 for three-month delivery on the London Metal Exchange ended at $3,125 a tonne compared with $3,215 at the close on Tuesday. Earlier it hit an intra-day low of $3,083, down by 4.1 percent.

Three-month lead MPB3 closed at $1,965 a tonne, after hitting $1,880 down 5.5 percent. It closed at $1,990 on Tuesday.

"We don't think prices will fall too far, given the turnaround and the change in fundamentals which are supportive in our view," said Gayle Berry, an analyst at Barclays Capital.

Stocks have been falling in Singapore over the past few days pushing prices higher, up some 8 percent during the last week.

She said lead had been moved from Singapore to China to take advantage of favourable domestic Chinese prices versus the LME.

In aluminium, stocks in LME warehouses rose by 24,825 tonnes to 1.115 million tonnes, the highest since May 2004.

"There is still plenty of metal available," said Nick Moore, an analyst at ABN Amro. He noted that 26,200 tonnes had come from Detroit, reflecting weakness in the auto industry.

Earlier this week data from the United States showed auto and auto parts sales fell 3.3 percent in June, their worst month since February 2006. Year-on-year they tumbled 9.5 percent.

Aluminium used in transport, packaging and power hit a record high of $3,380 a tonne last week on expectations of lower supplies from China, the world's top consumer and producer, and rising energy costs.

Electricity accounts for up to 45 percent of aluminium smelting costs, analysts said.

WEAKNESS MASKED