METALS-Copper steady, stocks drop offsets economic worries

* Copper stocks drop, aluminium stocks near record high

* Eyes on China trade data later in the week

* Tin in backwardation

(Recasts, previous dateline SHANGHAI)

By Rebekah Curtis

LONDON, July 7 (Reuters) - Copper drifted lower on Tuesday, pressured by demand concerns as Chinese buying tailed off and economic uncertainty troubled global markets, but falling inventories helped the metal pare some early losses.

Copper for three-months delivery MCU3 on the London Metal Exchange traded at $4,974.75 a tonne at 0911 GMT, from a close of $4,970 on Monday. The metal used in power and construction hit a session low of $4,900, having reached a near-two-week low of $4,842.25 the day before.

"We're going into the quieter summer period and there's a widespread belief that Chinese imports are going to be lower in these couple of months for most of the (industrial) metals," said Stephen Briggs, commodity strategist at RBS Global Banking and Markets.

Stockpiling by China, the world's top copper consumer, has helped copper prices surge more than 60 percent so far this year. But analysts warn China's buying exercise is fading and Western economies remain too beleaguered to pick up the baton.

Copper pared earlier losses as data showed inventories dropped 3,250 tonnes to 265,925 tonnes, allaying some concerns about stocks potentially rising in a weak period for demand.

SENTIMENT FRAGILE

Dampening sentiment, a research group said the U.S. job market weakened in June after rebounding in May for the first time in 21 months, reaffirming that employment has yet to reach a bottom, while a report said the U.S. service sector was still shrinking in June, albeit at a lower pace. [ID:nN06492915]

A light economic calendar this week could keep metals prices in a tight range, analysts and traders said.

The main influence will probably be China trade data for June, likely to be released on Friday.