May 19 (Reuters) - London copper prices inched higher on Thursday, buoyed by easing COVID-19 restrictions in top metals consumer China, although mounting worries over a global economic slowdown limited gains.

Shanghai will start allowing more businesses in zero-COVID areas to resume normal operations from the start of June, deputy mayor Zhang Wei said as the city prepares for the end of lockdown.

"Sentiment had been buoyed by hopes that China is making progress towards an exit from strict lockdowns," commodity strategists at ANZ said in a note.

Benchmark three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was up 0.2% at $9,254 a tonne, as of 0702 GMT, after dropping 1.4% in the previous session. LME aluminium was down 0.1% at $2,853.50 a tonne

The most-active June copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange ended daytime trading down 0.3% at 71,530 yuan ($10,576.04) a tonne.

However, aggressive U.S. rate-hike bets, ongoing lockdowns in China and a batch of poor economic reading from major nations has led to slowdown concerns and weighed on industrial metals.

"Aluminium prices are under significant pressure from a strong US dollar, demand loss from Chinese end-use sectors and poor investor sentiment towards the metals complex," Fitch Solutions said in a note.

DOLLAR: The dollar rose 0.1% against its rivals, making greenback-denominated metals more expensive for buyers using other currencies.

DATA: Adding to growth worries, Permits for future U.S. homebuilding tumbled to a five-month low in April, suggesting the housing market was slowing amid rising mortgage rates.

INSG: The global nickel market deficit deepened to 11,100 tonnes in March, compared with a shortfall a month earlier of 1,800 tonnes, data from the International Nickel Study Group showed on Wednesday.

COLUMN-Nickel demand boomed in 2021; this year it will be supply: Andy Home.

PRICES: zinc slipped 1% to $3,585.50, nickel was flat at $26,160, lead was steady at $2,054 and tin gained 1.4% to $33,485.

Shanghai aluminium gained 0.8%, zinc slipped 1%, nickel was flat, lead gained 0.6%, while tin climbed 2%.

($1 = 6.7634 Chinese yuan) (Reporting by Brijesh Patel in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)