* Anglo American copper production falls 14 pct in Q1
* Aluminium hits highest since August 2008
* London Metal Exchange shut Friday, Monday
* COMEX, NYMEX all closed for Good Friday holiday
(Updates with closing New York prices, comment. Changes byline, dateline. Rewrites throughout.)
By Carole Vaporean and Melanie Burton
NEW YORK/LONDON, April 21 (Reuters) - Copper rallied to its highest in more than a week on Thursday, as supply concerns, a tumbling U.S. dollar, and signs that economic growth has taken deeper root in the United States all contributed to its gains.
Many investors looked past data showing a large drop in Chinese imports of the metal last month.
Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange finished at $9,700 a tonne versus $9,577 at Wednesday's close.
The red metal, used in power and construction, earlier hit $9,707.75 a tonne, its highest since April 12, recovering from one-month lows near $9,200 at the start of the week.
In New York, COMEX Benchmark May copper futures settled 6.05 cents higher at $4.40 per lb, a 1.39 percent gain. Earlier, it shot to its highest since April 13 at $4.4030.
"We're seeing reduced risk aversion and that's certainly lifted (U.S.) stocks and also various commodities, including copper," said Peter Buchanan, commodities analyst and senior economist at CIBC in Toronto.
Stronger U.S. quarterly corporate earnings have turned investor sentiment in favor of assuming more risk and has contributed to the notion that economic growth is improving.
"Certainly the (U.S.) earnings numbers have lent support to the view that the economy is on a recovery track in spite of earlier misgivings, and that's certainly helpful for copper," Buchanan added.
U.S. stocks rose as strong earnings reports lifted big names like Apple Inc, up 2.7 percent after it posted results that smashed Wall Street's expectations. The maker of the iPad and iPhone joined Intel, United Technologies and other names with much-stronger-than-forecast earnings that increased the perception of a healthy corporate America.
In the face of potential pick up in copper demand, Anglo American said floods and heavy rains hampered output in the first quarter. The London-listed miner's outlook included a 14 percent drop in copper output, reinforcing worries about tight supply, even though it stuck to its production targets.
"Underlying supply tensions in copper are still there, which is the main theme (supporting prices)," said analyst Dan Smith of Standard Chartered.
"Chinese data today showed quite a lot of weakness in terms of imports, but despite that copper prices have been quite strong," he said.
China's refined copper imports dropped 43 percent in March from the same month last year due to high stocks and strong international prices.
Smith said higher copper prices also reflected weakness of the dollar and rising equities.
The U.S. dollar tumbled for the third straight day as super-low interest rates and the weight of a massive budget deficit pushed the greenback closer to an all-time low.
A weaker dollar makes dollar-denominated commodities cheaper in other currencies.
Next week, one key risk for metals markets could be the advanced reading on U.S. first-quarter gross domestic product, due Wednesday. Economists forecast a decline to a 2.0 percent growth pace from 3.1 percent in the fourth quarter. The measure will be closely watched for the timbre of economic health.
COPPER CONSOLIDATION
Limiting copper's upside in the short-term, said RBS analyst Daniel Major, are sovereign debt issues in Europe and worries over rising inventories in Asia outlook.
Inventories of copper in LME-registered warehouses rose by 2,575 tonnes to 456,275 tonnes, their highest since last June, the latest data showed.
Aluminium powered to its highest level since August 2008, as rising costs of power boosted expectations for the energy-intensive metal's input costs.
Credit Suisse Private Banking said, in a note, it raised its aluminium outlook to $2,850 per tonne on a three-month horizon and to $2,950 in 21 months, from prior forecasts of $2,600 and $2,650 per tonne.
Aluminium ended at $2,745 from $2,730 at the close.
Tin was untraded, but bid at $32,700/$32,750, from $32,650 at the close on Wednesday while zinc was at $2,360 per tonne and flat from the day before.
Lead, which is used to make batteries, slipped back to $2,601 from $2,610 and stainless steel material nickel, was at $26,900 from $26,400 a tonne.
(Additional reporting by Pratima Desai and Silvia Antonioli in London; editing by Jane Baird;editing by Sofina Mirza-Reid)