June 16 (Reuters) - Copper slipped on Tuesday, as Middle

East uncertainties still lingered despite a preliminary

U.S.-Iran deal, while falling retail sales data in China weighed

on sentiment.

Benchmark three-month copper on the London Metal

Exchange was 0.15% lower at $13,725 a ton as of 0258 GMT.

The most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai

Futures Exchange fell 0.48% to 104,850 yuan ($15,508.98) a ton.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday the U.S. and Iran

had signed a preliminary agreement to end their war and reopen

the Strait of Hormuz, though details remained unclear and a

permanent truce is still to be negotiated.

Uncertainty, however, lingered, with Israeli Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu saying Israel would keep forces in southern

Lebanon and retain the right to respond to Hezbollah attacks,

while shippers said Hormuz transit may take weeks to resume

safely.

In top metals consumer China, retail sales contracted for

the first time in over three years, shrinking 0.6% in May, and

fixed-asset investment fell 4.1% in the first five months of the

year, worse than expectations for a 2% drop.

Industrial output, however, rose 4.5% in May from a year

earlier, beating expectations for a 4.3% increase and picking up

from April's 4.1% growth, National Bureau of Statistics data

showed.

Aluminium, meanwhile, continued to fall, with the Shanghai

most-active contract declining 1.55% to 23,855 yuan a

ton, after touching a 12-week low at 23,725 yuan earlier this

session.

The London benchmark aluminium also eased, down

0.41% to $3,365.50 a ton. It touched the lowest since March 27

on Monday.

The reopening of the Strait of Hormuz is lifting hopes for

more aluminium exported from the Persian Gulf region through the

key waterway, easing near-term supply worries.

Meanwhile, China's output of aluminium remained strong in

May, up 1.7% to 3.89 million tons, and in the first five months

of the year the country produced 19.22 million tons, rising 3.5%

from the corresponding period last year.

Elsewhere on the LME, zinc added 0.14%, lead

nudged 0.05% higher, nickel dipped 0.15% and tin

dropped 0.54%.

Among other base metals on SHFE, zinc gained 0.51%,

lead rose 0.99%, nickel added 0.27%, and tin

climbed 1.26%.

($1 = 6.7606 Chinese yuan renminbi)