* LME stocks of copper and aluminium rise * Oil up, Brent LCOc1 pushing towards $116 * Coming up: U.S. payrolls data, 1330 GMT (Updates prices) By Rebekah Curtis LONDON, March 4 (Reuters) - Copper rose on Friday, helped by expectations of upbeat figures from a U.S. jobs report due later, but fighting in oil-producing Libya capped gains as rising oil prices stoked concerns of inflation hitting growth. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange CMCU3 was $9,980 a tonne in official rings, from a last bid of $9,910 a tonne on Thursday. "...the market is waiting for the payrolls data," said Leon Westgate of Standard Bank. "The very good performance of the U.S. equities and the positive Shanghai composite index also boosted sentiment," he added, after a strong performance in Asian shares. Investors betting on a big gain in U.S. payrolls pushed Wall Street to its best one-day rally in three months on Thursday. [.N] U.S. employers probably hired more workers in February than in any month since May last year, with nonfarm payrolls increasing 185,000, according to a Reuters survey. [ID:nN03204001] Spirits were higher after a recent spate of upbeat data from the world's biggest economy, including figures on jobless claims and U.S. services sector on Thursday. [ID:nOAT004756] [ID:nN03138882] Nonetheless, tensions have run high in markets since a wave of unrest has spread across the Middle East and North Africa this year. nTOPMEAST Crude oil rose over $1 on Friday, with Brent LCOc1 pushing towards $116, as fighting in Libya intensified with fresh reports of air strikes, and on protests in Saudi Arabia's oil-producing Eastern Province. [O/R] STOCKS CLIMB Stocks of copper in LME warehouses last rose 1,250 tonnes to 425,300 tonnes, their highest level since July last year as traders cited weakening physical demand. "We would argue that industrial metals may find it difficult to break higher in the near-term as long as inventories do not register meaningful outflows again," Credit Suisse said in a note. "Spreads between Shanghai and London prices additionally hint at some moderation in Chinese demand," the note added. "However, we think that the fundamental backdrop remains broadly supportive and expect the uptrend to accelerate soon." The growing piles of metal have moved the copper curve into a $8.5 contango -- a discount for cash over three-month material MCU0-3 -- from a $70 backwardation, or the premium for cash over three-month material, in mid-December. Aluminium stocks climbed 7,250 tonnes to 4,606,200 tonnes, within reach of a record high 4,640,750 hit in January 2010. Aluminium CMAL3 was $2,623 a tonne in rings, from a last bid of $2,611 on Thursday. Zinc CMZN3 was at $2,512 a tonne from $2,512 at the close on Thursday and battery material lead CMPB3 was at $2,655 a tonne from a close of $2,619 a tonne. Tin CMSN3, untraded in rings, was bid at $31,925 from $31,650 a tonne. Nickel CMNI3 was $28,905 in official rings from $28,860 a tonne.

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