* Dollar rises against major currency basket * Stocks of copper fall again * Coming up: U.S. industrial production data (Recasts, previous SHANGHAI) By Rebekah Curtis LONDON, March 15 (Reuters) - Copper prices fell on Monday as investors worried that potential monetary tightening in China could cap demand from the world's top consumer of base metals. Also pressuring metals, the dollar rose against a basket of major currencies, making dollar-priced metals more expensive for non-U.S. investors. [FRX/] Copper for three-months delivery MCU3 on the London Metal Exchange traded at $7,327.50 a tonne at 1032 GMT from a close of $7,440 on Friday. Investors were concerned that rising inflation in China would spur the country to tighten monetary policy. Stoking this, China's Premier Wen Jiabao on Sunday expressed worry about inflation. Investors are concerned that a currency spat between China and the United States. [ID:nTOE62D001] [ID:nTOE6290B5] "It's concerns about monetary policy, particularly in China, and that's no big surprise because that's (China) provided the driving force for copper in the last 12 months," said Robin Bhar, an analyst at Credit Agricole. "The market's still very much dependent on Chinese growth, Chinese buying, so therefore, any threat to tighten monetary policy will have repercussions." Chinese buying helped copper prices surge some 140 percent last year. But prices of the metal, used in power and construction, have slipped about 1 percent so far this year, as investors worried the Chinese demand outlook was softening and as the recovery in Western demand has been slow. But Bhar and other analysts added that even if China does rein in monetary policy, its policy will remain accommodative enough for its metals demand to remain robust. "It's not going to cause a crash in the copper price, the Chinese government does not want their economy to slow quickly either," Bhar said. Commodities saw their weakest performance, as measured by the CRB index .CRB, in over a month last week on worries about China's policy changes and after patchy economic data. Investors will look out for the New York Fed manufacturing survey due at 1230 GMT and U.S. industrial production data at 1315 GMT. CHILE Investors are keeping a keen eye on production from Chile after a series of supply disruptions in recent weeks in the top copper producing country. Key mines in Chile resumed operations after energy supply returned on Monday following a massive blackout, just two weeks after an earthquake temporarily hit supply. [ID:nN15167496] A recent fall in stocks at LME warehouses has supported sentiment in the market, however. Stocks of copper fell 1,375 tonnes on Friday to 531,200 tonnes -- standing at their lowest since late January after consistently falling in March. "We expect continued LME withdrawals to see copper continue to trade at high levels in the shorter term," Macquarie said in a note, adding that Chinese demand had "picked up strongly" over the past week. Aluminium CMAL3 traded at $2,237 from $2,260.50 and zinc CMZN3 was at $2,290 from $2,335. Battery material lead CMPB3 was at $2,220 from $2,265, tin CMSN3 traded at $17,450 from $17,550 and nickel CMNI3 was at $21,750 from $21,435. Metal Prices at 1035 GMT Metal Last Change Pct Move End 2009 Ytd Pct move COMEX Cu 331.00 -5.95 -1.77 332.75 -0.53 LME Alum 2235.00 -25.50 -1.13 2230.00 0.22 LME Cu 7330.00 -134.00 -1.80 7375.00 -0.61 LME Lead 2217.00 -48.00 -2.12 2432.00 -8.84 LME Nickel 21350.00 -400.00 -1.84 18525.00 15.25 LME Tin 17400.00 -150.00 -0.85 16950.00 2.65 LME Zinc 2290.00 -45.00 -1.93 2560.00 -10.55 SHFE Alu 16510.00 -240.00 -1.43 17160.00 -3.79 SHFE Cu* 58300.00 -1180.00 -1.98 59900.00 -2.67 SHFE Zin 18315.00 -565.00 -2.99 21195.00 -13.59 ** 1st contract month for COMEX copper * 3rd contract month for SHFE AL, CU and ZN SHFE ZN began trading on 26/3/07

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