UPDATE 7-Copper, aluminium up as dlr slips on US data

(Updates with New York closing copper prices, adds analyst
comment)

By Anna Stablum and Humeyra Pamuk

LONDON, June 6 (Reuters) - Industrial metals rose on Friday,
with copper prices jumping more than 3 percent to the highest in a
week and aluminium up around 2 percent as the dollar lost ground
after U.S. jobs data.

Copper for three-months delivery MCU3 on the London Metal
Exchange rallied to $8,075 per tonne, its highest level since May
29, and settled at $8,000, up $190, or 2.4 percent, from
Thursday's close.

At the New York Mercantile Exchange's COMEX division, copper
for July delivery HGN8 ended up 8.00 cents at $3.6230 a lb, its
highest level on a closing basis since May 28.

U.S. employers shed jobs for a fifth straight month in May and
the unemployment rate jumped to its highest in more than 3-1/2
years, a Labor Department report showed. [ID:nN05349665]

Analysts say the data itself may not necessarily be good for
base metals as it might mean further weakness for the U.S. economy
and softer demand for industrial metals.

"I just don't like the fundamentals for copper," said Bill
O'Neill partner of LOGIC Advisors in Upper Saddle River, New
Jersey. "The unemployment report today doesn't make me like copper
anymore."

However, the dollar decline pushed metals prices higher.

"The sharply lower dollar has helped metals," said analyst
Michael Widmer at Lehman Brothers. "But the data is a bit
ambiguous for base metals," he said.

"A higher unemployment rate could mean a weaker U.S. economy
and demand for metals not recovering very quickly. That would not
be so bullish for metals."

The dollar dropped, after data showed a jump in the U.S.
employment rate to 5.5 percent last month. The euro EUR= gained
versus the dollar to $1.5673 from $1.5590.

A weaker dollar makes industrial metals cheaper for local
currency holders.

SHORT COVERING

Traders have also said investors covering their short
positions -- betting on lower prices -- ahead of a long weekend in
the Far East have also provided support for prices.

"It is short-covering and the dollar is weaker -- the Far East
has a few days off," a trader said, referring to Australia, the
Philippines and Hong Kong also being closed on Monday.

China, copper's top consumer, is closed on Monday for the
Dragon Boat Festival.

Falls in inventory levels of copper and aluminium helped
prices to climb higher. "Both Shanghai and the LME registered
stock outflows and it triggered some stops," an LME trader said.

Copper stocks dropped by 950 tonnes to 122,550, after rising
some 10 percent since the start of May, and aluminium fell 1,475
tonnes with stocks standing at just over 1 million tonnes.

Aluminium MAL3 rose 2 percent or $58 to $2,957.

Aluminium stocks monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange
fell to 187,720 tonnes from 189,781 the week before. Copper stocks
were down 13 percent in the week ended Thursday.

On the supply side, BHP Billiton (BHP.AX) (BLT.L) said
operations at its smallest copper mine in Chile, Cerro Colorado,
had been hit by a truckers' strike, but its larger mines, were so
far unaffected. [ID:nN05336542]

"The strike has been in the background for a while, but the
longer it rumbles on the more impact it may have," Standard Bank's
analyst Leon Westgate said.

Earlier this week metals production in Australia's biggest
mining region was affected by an explosion at an offshore gas
plant that knocked out more than a third of normal gas supplies.

This had supported nickel MNI3 as some producers have been
forced to trim their operations. [ID:nSYD298655] Nickel eased $900
to $22,000 per tonne.
LME zinc MZN3 gained $25 to $1,980, lead MPB3 was $15 higher
at $1,950, and tin MSN3 gained $200 to $22,000/22,100. At some
point the metal rose by more than 3 percent.

Exports of refined tin from Indonesia, the world's
second-biggest tin producer, fell nearly 28 percent in May from
the same month a year ago, data showed. [ID:nJAK239223]

"We continue to view tin prices with an upside bias in the
near term as market fundamentals remain supportive, " a Barclays
Capital report said.
Metal Prices at 1605 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct Move End 2007 Ytd Pct

move
LME Cu 8000.00 100.00 +2.40 6670.00 19.94
SHFE Cu* 60640.00 580.00 +0.97 56880.00 6.61
LME Alum 2957.00 58.00 +2.00 2403.00 23.05
SHFE Alu* 18860.00 75.00 +0.40 18180.00 3.74
COMEX Cu** 362.40 7.10 +2.00 303.05 19.58
LME Zinc 1969.00 14.00 +0.72 2370.00 -16.92
SHFE Zinc* 16680.00 -10.00 -0.06 18950.00 -11.98
LME Nick 22000.00 -900.00 -3.93 26350.00 -16.51
LME Lead 1935.00 0.00 +0.00 2550.00 -24.12
LME Tin 22000.00 200.00 +0.92 16400.00 34.15
** 1st contract month for COMEX copper * 3rd contact month for
SHFE AL, CU and ZN SHFE ZN began trading on 26/3/07
(Additional reporting by Nick Trevethan in Singapore and Chris
Kelly in New York; Editing by Peter Blackburn)