LONDON: Aluminium prices hit 10-day lows on Monday on technical weakness after rallies largely driven by the US rate cut last week, although downside was limited by strong import data from top consumer China.

Three-month aluminium on the London Metal Exchange was 0.6% lower at $2,471 per metric ton during official rings. It earlier dipped to $2,456 for its lowest since Sept. 13. Prices could fall to $2,407 this week, following their failure to break the resistance zone of $2,575 to $2,586, Reuters analyst Wang Tao said. Aluminium producer selling interest was evident on Monday morning to pressure on prices, brokerage Marex said in a commentary. Metal producers typically sell forward to hedge their sales and lock in high prices.

However, the downward pressure could be partly offset by strong buying appetite for the metal widely used in automaking and construction. China’s imports of primary aluminium more than doubled to 1.512 million tons year-on-year from January to August, customs data showed.

For other metals, LME copper slid 0.2% to $9,455.5 a ton, zinc was 0.1% lower at $2,871, nickel declined 0.1% to $16,500, lead was down 0.2% at $2,050 and tin moved 0.2% lower to $32,050.