China's Chalco posts 1.66 billion yuan loss in Q4

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Aluminum Corp of China Ltd (2600.HK) (601600.SS), the world's No.3 alumina producer, swung to a worse-than-expected quarterly loss and warned of a difficult 2009 as global aluminum prices plunged and costs rose.

Chalco, China's top producer of alumina and primary aluminum, reported an October-December net loss of 1.66 billion yuan ($243 million), compared with an adjusted 1.49 billion yuan profit a year earlier, based on Reuters calculation from previously released data.

The net loss, calculated from previously reported quarterly earnings, compared to an average forecast for a net loss of 260 million yuan from 13 analysts polled by Reuters Estimates.

Full-year net profit plunged 99.9 percent to 9.2 million yuan from a restated 10.75 billion yuan the previous year, Chalco said in a statement on Sunday.

The company had warned its 2008 net profit may more than halve on high costs and weak demand in the second half.

Chalco shares have rebounded 140 percent from their October lows on a series of positive government policies, including state purchasing of aluminum and lower power tariffs to protect the domestic industry.

(Reporting by Alison Leung; Editing by Tom Miles)