Zinc prices slipped to their lowest in nearly two months on Thursday, hit by rising inventories and worries over the impact from Chinese property sector woes.

Three-month zinc on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was down 0.6% at $2,387 a metric ton by 1130 GMT after touching $2,386 for its weakest since Dec. 11.

"The sentiment around Chinese property is getting more negative, which is definitely concerning," said Dan Smith, head of research at Amalgamated Metal Trading.

"Markets exposed to Chinese property are going to do badly, which explains why zinc is the worst LME performer over the past week and month by a long way."

LME zinc has shed 4.7% over the past month and 2.4% so far this week.

The main use for zinc is for galvanizing steel and half of global demand comes from the construction sector.

Weakness in the zinc market is also showing up in LME zinc inventories, which have climbed by 14% over the past 10 days to a one-month high.

LME copper slipped 0.3% to a three-week low of $8,288 a ton as the dollar strengthened and investors worried about China's economy.

"In copper, we have underlying bullishness, which is just being held back by all these worries about China," Smith said.

The dollar index firmed after several Federal Reserve speakers gave a range of reasons for feeling little urgency to start easing U.S. monetary policy soon. A strong U.S. currency makes dollar-priced commodities more expensive for buyers using other currencies.

Tin was the best LME performer, rising 1% to $25,745 a ton after January shipments of refined tin from major producer Indonesia dropped 99% year on year after miners suffered delays to work plan approvals.

Smith said soldering metal tin was also supported by buoyant electronic sectors.

Trading activity across industrial metals was slow, however, with top consumer China about to enter the Feb. 9-16 Lunar New Year holiday.

LME aluminium rose 0.8% to $2,240 a ton, nickel firmed by 0.1% to $16,025 and lead was down 0.2% at $2,096.

($1 = 7.1957 yuan)

(Reporting by Eric Onstad Editing by David Goodman)