March 4 (Reuters) - Most nonferrous metals declined on Monday, as weak manufacturing data from top consumer China weighed on the consumption outlook for the sector.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) eased 0.2% to $8,488 per metric ton by 0429 GMT, while the most-traded April copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) was flat at 68,960 yuan ($9,579.77) a ton.

LME aluminium shed 0.8% to $2,227.50 a ton, nickel declined 0.6% to $17,550, zinc eased 0.1% to $2,414.50, tin decreased 0.3% to $26,400, while lead rose 0.4% to $2,042.

SHFE nickel lost 1% to 136,470 yuan a ton, zinc was nearly flat at 20,590 yuan, aluminium was unchanged at 18,970 yuan, tin was nearly flat at 217,790 yuan, while lead rose 0.2% to 16,005 yuan.

Inventories of copper in SHFE warehouses continued to climb and were last at 214,487 tons, the highest since March last year.

China's manufacturing activity in February shrank for a fifth straight month, an official survey showed on Friday. The sector accounts for a large portion of metals demand.

However, the poor data raised pressure on China to roll out more stimulus measures as the parliament prepares for a key annual meeting during March 5-11, which kept metals prices from steeper declines.

Base metals prices also gained slight support from a softer dollar, which makes greenback-priced metals cheaper to holders of other currencies.

The dollar was pressured by lower Treasury yields, as traders waited for more crucial economic data for fresh clues on the timing of the U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate cuts.

Weak U.S. factory data released last week also raised the prospects for rate cuts.

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DATA/EVENTS AHEAD (GMT)

1100 France Producer Prices YY Feb

($1 = 7.1985 yuan) (Reporting by Mai Nguyen in Hanoi; Editing by Janane Venkatraman )