(Updates official prices)

By Julian Luk

March 25 (Reuters) - Aluminium prices touched an 11-week

high on Monday over concerns of a slow recovery in production in

China's Yunnan province and on the back of a strong technical

outlook.

Three-month aluminium on the London Metal Exchange (LME)

was up 0.4% at $2,318.5 a metric ton in official rings

after touching $2,323, its highest since Jan. 3.

It is the only metal registering gains in the LME base

metals complex for the day.

The technical outlook for aluminium is positive after

breaking above the major moving averages, Robert Montefusco of

commodities brokerage Sucden Financial said.

"There are some catalysts from Yunnan's production side. But

I won't say prices are getting carried away," he added.

Montefusco cited market concerns about the pace of aluminium

smelters in draught-hit Yunnan province restoring 500,000 metric

tons of annual production, as dry weather continues to restrict

hydropower supply.

Overall, base metals demand from top consumer China remains

uncertain, he added, with the country's purchasing managers'

index due this Sunday looking to shed more light on

manufacturing activity.

"Copper is still finely balanced. Looking at stocks and

production. Demand is not getting there yet," Montefusco said.

Copper inventory in warehouses registered with the Shanghai

Futures Exchange (ShFE) fell slightly last week, after the

strongest seasonal surge since 2020.

ShFE copper stocks jumped from just 30,905 metric tons at

the end of December to 285,090 tons on March 22.

LME copper last eased 0.1% to $8,857 a ton, after

gaining 5.7% last week. That was the biggest weekly gain for

copper in over a year.

The discount for the cash copper prices against the

benchmark three-month contract hit $113 a metric ton earlier on

Monday, close to a record high of $113.26 in early

February.

The large discount, or contango, signals expectations of

ample supplies of copper on the LME, a feature of the market for

many months now.

For other metals, LME nickel declined 0.9% to

$17,090, zinc was flat at $2,483.5, lead dipped

0.3% to $2,030, and tin fell 0.4% to $27,625.