LONDON: Aluminium rose on Tuesday, helped by a weakening dollar and a sharp fall in inventories available on the London Metal Exchange (LME), but rising COVID-19 cases in China and expectations of surplus supply next year limited gains.

Benchmark aluminium on the LME was up 0.6% at $2,376 a tonne at 1700 GMT after 32,950 tonnes were earmarked for delivery out of LME-registered warehouses, lowering on-warrant stocks to 237,650 tonnes.

LME aluminium inventories have been falling in recent weeks and stocks in Shanghai Futures Exchange warehouses, at 92,373 tonnes, are near multi-year lows. Yet prices of the metal used in transport, construction and packaging have declined in December and are down 15% this year due to a global economic slowdown.