Oct 16 (Reuters) - Copper slid 1.5 percent on Tuesday with the market facing its biggest one-day loss in more than a week, as an escalating trade war between the United States and the world's top industrial metals consumer China weighed. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange lost $93 at $6,208 tonne as of 0708 GMT. The most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange finished down 1.2 percent at 50,190 yuan ($7,249.64) a tonne. INFLATION: China's factory-gate inflation cooled for a third straight month in September amid ebbing domestic demand, pointing to more pressure on the world's second-biggest economy as it remains locked in an intensifying trade war with the United States. GROWTH: Growth in China's factory sector in September stalled after 15 months of expansion, with export orders falling the most in more than two years, a private business survey showed. TRADE: "Copper has dropped today on worries over trade war between the United States and China," said Helen Lau, an analyst at Argonaut Securities in Hong Kong. "There are concerns on slowing manufacturing growth in China." IMPORTS: China's unwrought copper imports surged to their highest in 2-1/2 years in September, while copper concentrate imports climbed to an all-time high as the world's top copper consumer's crackdown on scrap leaves it needing other forms of the metal. PREMIUMS: Yangshan copper import premiums SMM-CUYP-CN have been hovering near $120 since late-September, levels last seen in 2015, which indicate strong demand. BHP: The world's biggest miner BHP on Tuesday nearly doubled its stake in SolGold Plc , bolstering its position against top shareholder Newcrest Mining as it eyes SolGold's promising Cascabel copper-gold project in Ecuador.