Copper prices retreated on Tuesday after factory data weakened in top metals consumer China and the dollar strengthened on the back of reduced expectations of U.S. interest rate cuts.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) fell 0.9% to $9,489 per metric ton in official open-outcry trading.

A robust rally in copper fuelled a near 20% surge in LME prices during the two months up to Monday, when it touched $9,640.50 a ton, the highest since June 2022.

Data on Tuesday showed Chinese industrial output grew 4.5% year-on-year in March, slowing from the 7.0% pace seen in January-February and well below analysts' expectations of 6%.

March retail sales were also softer than expected despite the overall economy growing faster than forecast in the first quarter.

"Today it's the economic outlook from China that seems to be troubling the market," said Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank in Copenhagen.

Some speculators were likely liquidating some bullish positions, he added.

"Any weakness in the short-term will leave the market exposed to long liquidation because some of these recently established longs will be quite trigger happy."

The dollar hit a five-month high after hotter-than-expected U.S. retail sales figures raised more questions about when the Federal Reserve could begin cutting interest rates.

"As funding costs are not going to come down at the rate that the market was looking for, it could dissuade some restocking people were counting on," Hansen said.

A stronger dollar makes greenback-priced metals more expensive to buyers using other currencies.

LME aluminium retreated 0.8% in official activity to $2,534 a ton from 22-month highs touched on Monday after the U.S. and Britain banned the London Metal Exchange and CME from accepting new Russian production of the metal.

"The market is having some second thoughts about the initial spike we saw yesterday. As long as it's being produced, it will find its way to the market, maybe not through the normal venues," Hansen said.

Among other metals, LME nickel, which had also rallied due to the sanctions, shed 0.2% to $17,815 a ton, zinc dropped 1.8% to $2,724.50, lead edged down 0.2% to $2,180 and tin slipped 0.4% to $32,100.

($1 = 7.2394 yuan)

(Reporting by Eric Onstad; Additional reporting by Mai Nguyen in Hanoi; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Ravi Prakash Kumar)