(Updates with official prices)
By Eric Onstad
LONDON, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Nickel prices climbed on Fridayas stainless steel producers bought supplies ahead of a Chineseholiday and an Indonesian nickel ore export ban that couldcreate shortages.
Top supplier Indonesia's plan to ban exports of nickel orehas been brought forward by two years to Jan. 1, 2020, and thePhilippines, the world's second-biggest ore producer, couldsuspend five mining companies at the end of thisyear.
"There have been some anecdotes of stainless millsrestocking nickel and that has been positive," said analystNicholas Snowdon at Deutsche Bank in London.
Nickel is mostly used as an alloy in the production ofstainless steel.
"Across most sectors, in the week before the Golden Weekholiday, you'll invariably see a bit of raw material restocking,so we have elements of that in nickel alongside the broaderpotential restocking as we head into the (Indonesia) banapplication."
China celebrates its National Day Golden Week holiday inearly October.
Benchmark nickel on the London Metal Exchange gained2.6% to $17,725 a tonne in official open-outcry trading, ontrack for its biggest one-day gain in three weeks.
* CHINA RATE CUT: Base metals also gained support from Chinacutting its one-year benchmark lending rate for the second monthin a row on Friday.
* NICKEL INVENTORIES: Nickel stocks in warehouses monitoredby the Shanghai Futures Exchange slid 13.6%, weekly data showedon Friday.
* NICKEL SPREAD: The premium of LME cash nickel over thethree-month contract <CMNI0-3> climbed to $150 a tonne, near therecent decade high of $163, indicating near-term tightness.
* MARKET DEFICIT: The global nickel market deficit widenedto 6,700 tonnes in July from a revised 2,700 tonnes in theprevious month, the International Nickel Study Group (INSG) saidon Thursday.
* ALUMINIUM OUTPUT: LME aluminium, untraded inofficial rings, was bid down 0.6% at $1,790 a tonne after datashowed that global primary aluminium output rose to 5.407million tonnes in August from a revised 5.404 million tonnes inJuly.
* COPPER DEMAND: Fitch Solutions cut its average priceforecast for copper to $5,900 a tonne this year and $5,700 in2020, from previous views of $6,300 a tonne and $6,600 a tonnerespectively.
"A drop in Chinese demand has loosened the global (copper)market, while sentiment continues to worsen," Fitch said in anote.
LME copper was bid up 0.3% at $5,804 a tonne butremained on course for a 2.6% drop over the week, which wouldmark its steepest weekly fall since the week ended Aug. 2.
* PRICES: LME three-month zinc was bid down 0.2% inofficial activity at $2,308 a tonne, lead gained 0.9% totrade at $2,114 and tin slipped 0.3% to trade at$16,400.
* For the top stories in metals and other news, clickor(Additional reporting by Tom Daly in Beijing; editing by DavidGoodman and Jason Neely)