BEIJING  - Most Shanghai base metals fell on Thursday, with aluminium hitting a fresh two-year low, on concerns that an escalating Sino-U.S. trade row will hurt demand, while another batch of weak data from top metals consumer China added to the negative tone.

China's manufacturing sector barely grew last month after stalling in September, a private survey showed, a day after the country's official Purchasing Managers' Index showed the slowest growth in over two years.

Sentiment on base metals "wasn't helped by data showing cancelled warrants and orders to withdraw metal from (London Metal Exchange) warehouses had fallen," ANZ wrote in a note.

FUNDAMENTALS

* ALUMINIUM: SHFE aluminium fell for a sixth straight session, shedding as much as 1.2 percent to 13,860 yuan ($1,989.84) a tonne, the lowest since Oct. 24, 2016, before ending the morning session at 13,870 yuan a tonne.

* SMELTERS: China's aluminium smelters are under pressure from current low prices, with the situation exacerbated by high costs for key raw material alumina, analysts say.

* LME ALUMINIUM: London aluminium nudged up 0.3 percent to $1,960 a tonne, after hitting a near 15-month low of $1,953 in the previous session.

* CHINA: The Caixin/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for October edged up to 50.1 from 50.0 in September, while an extended contraction in export orders highlighted rising pressure on the economy as a trade war with the United States intensified.

* COPPER: Three-month LME copper edged up 0.2 percent to $6,006.50 a tonne, while Shanghai copper lost 0.8 percent to 48,770 yuan a tonne.

* OTHER METALS: Nickel, which is used to make stainless steel, slipped as much as 2 percent in Shanghai to a six-month low of 96,330 yuan a tonne. Lead bucked the negative trend with a 2.4 percent jump on concerns of an environmental crackdown in China.

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MARKETS NEWS

* Asian stocks rose on Thursday as bruised investor sentiment got some relief from another robust Wall Street session, while the pound rallied on a report Britain has secured a deal that would give its financial services firms continued access to European markets after Brexit.

(Reporting by Tom Daly; Editing by Amrutha Gayathri and Subhranshu Sahu)

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