July copper futures are expected to open floor trading around 1 cent a pound higher Friday, based on electronic activity ahead of the pit session on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. In other markets that have the potential to impact metals in the short term, the euro is up slightly to $1.4193 from $1.4180 late Thursday afternoon. In screen trading ahead of the pit open, the June S&P 500 futures are up 5 points to 945.50. July crude oil is up 30 cents to $69.11 a barrel in overnight activity. The May U.S. employment report is scheduled for release at 8:30 a.m. EDT (1230 GMT). Expectations are for a loss of 525,000 non-farm jobs and for the unemployment rate to rise to 9.2% from 8.9% in April. In New York Thursday, copper futures finished higher as equities stabilized, crude oil ticked higher and the dollar was unable to build upon the previous day's bounce that had pressured a number of commodities. July copper rose 8.90 cents to settle at $2.3010 per pound. Inventories of copper stored in London Metal Exchange warehouses fell 3,225 metric tons Friday, leaving them at 299,975. The most recent Comex inventory data, released late Thursday afternoon, were up 4 short tons at 56,818 short tons. Once-a-week data showed a rise of 15,263 metric tons in Shanghai Futures Exchange inventories, leaving the total at 45,480 metric tons. -By Allen Sykora, Dow Jones Newswires; 541-318-8765; allen.sykora@dowjones.com Click here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's most important business and market news, analysis and commentary: http://www.djnewsplus.com/access/al?rnd=5aoPCLDc7VaF%2FIP1OeNiYQ%3D%3D. You can use this link on the day this article is published and the following day.

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