BEIJING, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Shanghai base metal prices
mostly rose in early trade on Monday, with zinc climbing for a
sixth session and hitting a two-week high as inventories in
China languish at their lowest in a decade.     
    The London Metal Exchange is closed on Monday for a public
holiday.
    
    FUNDAMENTALS
    * ZINC: The most-traded zinc contract on the Shanghai
Futures Exchange, for October, climbed as much as 2.2
percent to 21,385 yuan ($3,111.00) a tonne, its highest since
Aug. 10, and was up 1.4 percent as of 0207 GMT. Three-month LME
zinc closed up 2.7 percent on Friday.
    * ZINC STOCKS: Zinc inventories in warehouses monitored by
the ShFE ZN-STX-SGH fell 11.8 percent last week to 30,800
tonnes, their lowest since October 2007. Stocks in warehouses
approved by the LME have fallen for eight straight days.
    * COPPER: ShFE copper was trading higher for a
second day, rising 0.7 percent to 48,780 yuan a tonne.
    * ALUMINIUM: Shanghai aluminium climbed as much as
0.9 percent to 14,865 yuan a tonne, its highest since Aug. 9, as
Chinese smelters' costs increase.
    * HONGQIAO: China Hongqiao Group, the world's
biggest aluminium producer, reported a 21 percent jump in
first-half net profit despite lower revenues as it avoided a
repeat of hefty impairments seen a year earlier.
    * CHINA: Profits earned by China's industrial firms rose
16.2 percent in July from a year earlier, slowing from 20
percent in June, the statistics bureau said on Monday.

    * AUSTRALIA MINING: As Australia's big miners gear up for a
new round of expansion after years of belt tightening, prices
for everything from labour to fuel to equipment have begun to
rise, driving up costs and eating into margins.
    * For the top stories in metals and other news, click       
 or     
        
    MARKETS NEWS    
    * Asian shares rose early on Monday, taking support from
Wall Street's gains on Friday after U.S. Federal Reserve
Chairman Jerome Powell said a gradual approach to raising rates
was best to protect the U.S. economy and job growth.
   
        
   DATA AHEAD (GMT)
   0800  Germany     Ifo business climate Aug
   1230  U.S.     National activity index Jul    
        
    PRICES
    
 BASE METALS PRICES                        0159 GMT
 Most active ShFE copper                      48770
 Most active ShFE aluminium                   14785
 Most active ShFE zinc                        21200
 Most active ShFE lead                        18340
 Most active ShFE nickel                     108670
 Most active ShFE tin                        145580
 

($1 = 6.8740 Chinese yuan renminbi)

    
 (Reporting by Tom Daly
Editing by Joseph Radford)