HANOI, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Copper prices in London retreated on Wednesday from a 9-1/2-year high as investors exercised caution following a rally, which pushed prices up by 9.2% in just four days.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was down 0.1% at $9,200 a tonne by 0706 GMT. The contract has advanced as much as 9.2% since Feb. 18.

The most-traded April copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange ended up 0.5% at 67,910 yuan ($10,515.48) a tonne, having hit its highest since August 2011 at 68,880 yuan a tonne earlier in the session.

"It (the market) probably has enough energy to push into the end of February, but not for March," said a Singapore-based metals trader.

"On the way up I've seen stops triggered from the $9,000 to $9,150 levels, but beyond that I think it's purely ShFE-LME arbitrage buying. I don't see CTAs (commodity trading advisers) adding more length neither," said the trader.

Prices have been supported by a positive demand outlook and tight supplies.

"We are likely to see falling copper concentrate imports by China during February and March, and Chinese smelters reduced production due to supply shortage," said S&P Global Platts pricing analysts.

"On the demand side, the global economy is recovering including Japan, Europe and the United States. China's export orders are going up since last December," they added.

LME copper inventories were at their lowest since December 2005 at 73,450 tonnes, while Yangshan bonded copper premiums rose to $77 a tonne, its highest since August 2020, suggesting better China demand.

FUNDAMENTALS

* LME aluminium rose 0.1% to $2,148.50 a tonne, nickel fell 0.6% to $19,230 a tonne and zinc dropped 1% to $2,825 a tonne.

* ShFE nickel dropped 2% to 142,340 yuan a tonne, zinc declined 2.3% to 21,315 yuan a tonne and lead fell 1.9% to 15,595 yuan a tonne.

($1 = 6.4581 Chinese yuan renminbi) (Reporting by Mai Nguyen; Editing by Rashmi Aich, Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Vinay Dwivedi)