(Adds Shanghai closing prices) BEIJING/MELBOURNE, Oct 26 (Reuters) - London aluminium surged to its highest in more than five years on Thursday on expectations of dwindling supply of both aluminium and its raw materials, as China imposes restrictions on industrial output over winter. The seasonal curbs on aluminium production itself will not be as severe as expected, analysts at Standard Chartered said in a note, referring to an apparent reprieve for top producer China Hongqiao Group, which looks to have escaped a full 30 percent cut. "However, new price support has emerged in the form of cost inflation related to the still-rigorous application of upstream winter heating-season capacity cuts for both alumina refineries and other raw material production," they added. FUNDAMENTALS * London Metal Exchange aluminium peaked at $2,211 a tonne, the highest since March 2012. Prices traded at $2,202.50 a tonne, as of 0718 GMT. * Shfe aluminium closed up 1 percent at 16,490 yuan ($2,485.72) a tonne, levels not seen in more than a week, but remained well below their recent near eight-year high of 17,345 yuan a tonne from last month. * The move in LME aluminium came amid a weaker dollar, improving chart picture, and options positioning, traders said. A weaker dollar makes metals more affordable for buyers paying with other currencies. * Other metals were also supported with LME zinc and nickel up 0.6 percent and 0.1 percent, respectively. London copper dipped 0.3 percent to just below the $7,000 mark, having hit a three-year high of $7,177 a tonne hit earlier this month. * In Shanghai, zinc closed up 1 percent, but Shfe nickel finished down 0.5 percent. Shanghai rebar prices closed down 1.7 percent. MARKET NEWS * Norsk Hydro said on Wednesday curtailments of primary production in China have driven positive sentiment and could result in a tighter aluminium market in 2018. * China Zhongwang Holdings Ltd said on Thursday it had acquired a controlling stake in an Australian all-aluminium superyacht builder, as the Chinese extrusion firm aims to expand the application of aluminium in the marine sector. * Embattled Kobe Steel Ltd said on Thursday a Japanese Industrial Standards (JIS) certificate for some copper products made at its Hatano plant near Tokyo has been revoked because of data falsification. * Aluminum Corp of China Ltd and Jiangxi Copper are due to report third-quarter earnings on Thursday. * For the top stories in metals and other news, click or BASE METALS PRICES 0718 GMT Three month LME 6995 copper Most active ShFE 54760 copper Three month LME 2202.5 aluminium Most active ShFE 16490 aluminium Three month LME 3216.5 zinc Most active ShFE 26000 zinc Three month LME 2486 lead Most active ShFE 19105 lead Three month LME 11875 nickel Most active ShFE 95600 nickel Three 19825 month LME tin Most active ShFE 145260 tin BASE METALS ARBITRAGE LME/SHFE COPPER LMESHFCUc3 514.36 LME/SHFE ALUMINIUM LMESHFALc3 -482.6 3 LME/SHFE ZINC LMESHFZNc3 535.99 LME/SHFE LEAD LMESHFPBc3 -828.5 1 LME/SHFE NICKEL LMESHFNIc3 2228.9 7 ($1 = 6.6339 Chinese yuan) (Reporting by Melanie Burton and Tom Daly in BEIJING; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Biju Dwarakanath)
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