MARKETS-METALS (UPDATE 5) * US data beats expectations, boosts dollar * Market looking for $500 billion stimulus * Coming Up: U.S. Fed statement about 1815 GMT (Recasts after U.S. data) By Melanie Burton LONDON, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Copper slipped in London on Wednesday as the dollar firmed on upbeat U.S. data ahead of a Federal Reserve decision on further monetary policy easing to shore up the world's largest economy. Aluminium touched a session high of $2,449 a tonne, close to late-April highs against a backdrop of rising energy costs for the power-intensive metal, an improved technical picture and options-related short-covering. Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange was down at $8,391 a tonne at 1438 GMT from $8,435 at Tuesday's close. The metal used in power and construction is within reach of $8,554, hit on Oct. 26 and its highest since July 2008. The dollar started its ascent after news of an above-consensus jobs report from the private sector in the United States. Momentum picked up after data showed the services sector had expanded at a higher-than-expected pace. The market is on Fed alert, said Andrey Kryuchenkov, an analyst at VTB capital. "If (the Fed) say $500 billion as expected ... then you'll see a pull-back to the bottom edge of the range. If it's any less than that, you'll see serious profit-taking." Markets are betting the U.S. central bank will commit to buy at least $500 billion in Treasuries over five months. A statement is due on Wednesday at 1815 GMT. A weaker dollar makes commodities priced in the U.S. currency cheaper for holders of other currencies. A larger-than-expected easing could weaken the dollar and boost base metals further. "Base metals are trading nervously ahead of this evening's long-awaited (Fed) announcement ... Turnover has subdued for all the base metals, but particularly for copper," Standard Bank said in a note. Offsetting some of the negative sentiment, new orders received by U.S. factories rose by more the consensus in September. CHINA ZINC AUCTION Aluminium was trading at $2,438 from Tuesday's $2,430. The metal used in transport and packaging has been helped over the 12 to 18 months by the potential launch of aluminium exchange-traded products and financing deals, which have tied up about 70 percent of LME warehouse stocks. Zinc was at $2,445 per tonne, down from the $2,453 close after China said it would auction 50,000 tonnes of zinc ingots from its state reserves on Nov. 9 This followed news of a Chinese aluminium tender. "It's not huge in the scheme of things, but ... it's just the tip of the iceberg of unreported stocks sloshing around the world," added BNP Paribas analyst Stephen Briggs. Latest LME data showed that zinc inventories fell by 75 tonnes, ending five days of builds that brought stockpiles to near six-year highs above 630,000 tonnes. Battery material lead was at $2,500, up from $2,485 on Tuesday and stainless steel metal nickel was at $23,686 from $23,475 a tonne. Tin was trading was at $25,875 from Tuesday's $25,800. Traders are also watching significant holdings of LME stock warrants on aluminium alloy, primary aluminium, copper, nickel, lead and tin. Metal Prices at 1439 GMT Comex copper in cents/lb, LME prices in $/T and SHFE prices in yuan/T Metal Last Change Percent Move End 2009 Ytd Percent move COMEX Cu 381.90 -2.00 -0.52 334.65 14.12 LME Alum 2433.50 3.50 +0.14 2230.00 9.13 LME Cu 8400.00 -35.00 -0.41 7375.00 13.90 LME Lead 2508.00 23.00 +0.93 2432.00 3.13 LME Nickel 23705.00 230.00 +0.98 18525.00 27.96 LME Tin 25800.00 0.00 +0.00 16950.00 52.21 LME Zinc 2450.00 -3.00 -0.12 2560.00 -4.30 SHFE Alu 16535.00 10.00 +0.06 17160.00 -3.64 SHFE Cu* 63840.00 470.00 +0.74 59900.00 6.58 SHFE Zin 19700.00 -10.00 -0.05 21195.00 -7.05 ** Benchmark month for COMEX copper * 3rd contract month for SHFE AL, CU and ZN SHFE ZN began trading on 26/3/07 (Additional reporting by Pratima Desai; Editing by Sue Thomas and Jane Baird)

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