* Supply disruptions still supportive of copper * China's June copper imports rise from May * Coming up: U.S. employment index, June; 1400 GMT (Updates prices, adds quotes and details) By Carrie Ho SHANGHAI, July 11 (Reuters) - LME copper was steady on Monday, supported by continuing supply disruptions and a rise in June copper imports by China, but gloomy data on U.S. jobs and Chinese inflation weigh slightly on sentiment. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange edged up 0.2 percent to $9,680.25 a tonne by 0400 GMT, after losing 0.8 percent in the previous session following dismal U.S. job data. The most-active September copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange ticked up 0.2 percent to 72,000 yuan per tonne by its midday close. "Today, there is an absence of new negative macroeconomic data, so copper price movements are directed mainly by its fundamentals. For now, the presence of supply disruption is supportive," said Dongwu Futures analyst Song Lu. "The U.S. nonfarm payroll data serves only as a short term obstacle but not a long-term impediment to copper's upward trend. In terms of inflation, Chinese investors are looking forward to a respite in interest rate rises after the last one." A strike paralyzing production at Freeport Indonesia's Grasberg mine, one of the world's largest sources of copper and gold, will extend into a second week after the breakdown of talks between company and workers, a union official said on Friday. In Chile's copper-rich north, two of the world's top copper mines braced on Friday for more bad weather halting some operations or working to a contingency plan, executives and union leaders said. China's copper imports staged a strong comeback in June, but the outlook was marred by falls in a list of other key commodities, showing that Beijing's cooling measures were weighing on the economy. Copper imports into China snapped two months of decline to rise 9.9 percent from May to 280,009 tonnes in June, but volumes are still down 14.7 percent from a year ago. U.S. JUNE JOBS GROWTH AT NEAR HALT U.S. jobs growth ground to a near halt in June as employers hired the fewest workers in nine months, frustrating hopes the economy would bounce back quickly from a slowdown in the first half of the year. China's annual inflation accelerated to a three-year high in June, increasing the chances that the central bank will keep raising interest rates to tame price pressures that are spreading beyond food and energy. But Chinese equities seemed to have taken this news in stride, with the Shanghai Composite Index edging up 0.1 percent. Traders noted that copper trading volumes on both the LME and ShFE were not high, pointing to an absence of speculators. "Prices are up not due to large amount of buying but a seeming lack of conviction in sellers. Volumes traded are pretty low for this time of day. The buying is sustained by real demand by Chinese end-users," said a Shanghai-based trader. Europe's largest copper producer, Aurubis , sees a trend for rising copper prices thanks to higher demand for more electronics goods, its chief executive told a German paper. The euro fell to fresh two-week lows versus the Swiss franc and U.S. dollar in Asia on Monday in the lead-up to an emergency meeting of European leaders worried the debt crisis was spreading to Italy, the region's third largest economy. Base metals prices at 0400 GMT Metal Last Change Pct Move YTD pct chg LME Cu 9680.25 19.25 +0.20 0.84 SHFE CU FUT SEP1 72000 130 +0.18 0.21 LME Alum 2541.75 6.75 +0.27 2.90 SHFE AL FUT SEP1 17395 00 +0.00 3.30 HG COPPER SEP1 440.75 0.55 -0.10 -0.72 LME Zinc 2371.00 15.00 +0.64 -3.38 SHFE ZN FUT SEP1 18125 -50 -0.28 -6.93 LME Nickel 24000.00 110.00 +0.46 -3.03 LME Lead 2710.00 -9.00 -0.33 6.27 SHFE PB FUT 17265 -40 -0.23 -5.91 LME Tin 26950.00 150.00 +0.56 0.19 LME/Shanghai arb 1224 Shanghai and COMEX contracts show most active months ^ LME 3-m copper in yuan, including 17 pct VAT, minus SHFE third month Shanghai lead launched on March 24 (Reporting by Carrie Ho; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

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