* U.S. Oct single-family home sales rise * IMF denies in talks on Italy rescue plan, mkts cling to hope * Copper stocks on LME continue decline on Asian demand By Maytaal Angel LONDON, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Copper rallied on Monday to its highest in more than a week amid hopes that eurozone leaders will unveil concrete measures to deal with the debt crisis, though the metal remained vulnerable ahead of next week's key European summit. Copper and other commodities got an early lift from a weekend report saying the International Monetary Fund was preparing a rescue plan worth up to 600 billion euros for Italy. The report was denied, but investors clung to hope that the debt crisis would ease, with Italian, Spanish, French and Belgian bond yields all lower, along with the cost of insuring those countries' debt against default. "It is really strange the IMF report has been denied, nevertheless the market seems to be a little bit more optimistic that there might be some solution even as politicians have not yet presented a convincing solution for the debt crisis," said Quantitative Commodity Research analyst Peter Fertig. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange, untraded at the close, was bid at $7,495, versus a close at $7,230 a tonne on Friday. The metal, used in power and construction, hit a day high of $7,535 a tonne. Helping copper, euro zone finance ministers expected to clear the way on Tuesday for the zone's 440 billion euro bailout fund to attract cash from private and public investors. Also, Germany and France stepped up a drive on Monday for intrusive powers to reject national budgets in the euro zone that breach EU rules. In the United States, new single-family home sales rose in October and the supply of homes on the market fell to its lowest level since April last year, showing some healing in the battered housing sector. "I wouldn't say the sentiment is incredibly bullish, it's just less bearish," said Citigroup analyst David Thurtell. HUNGRY While copper's demand prospects hinge on a resolution to Europe's debt crisis, actual demand is for the time being holding up relatively well, as top consumer China remains hungry for the red metal. Latest data showed LME stocks, seen as an indicator of demand, fell 1,950 tonnes to 392,775 tonnes, their lowest since late January. Most of the outflows were from Singapore, Rotterdam and Bussan. Global miner Rio Tinto said it was worried about the general softening of prices at a time when it continues to see higher cost and strong currencies in Australia and Canada. Copper is down 23 percent this year and on track for its first annual decline since 2008 as the eurozone debt crisis, along with the weak outlook for the U.S. economy, dampened investor sentiment towards riskier assets. Zinc used in galvanizing, closed at $1,957 a tonne from $1,910, battery material lead at $2,025 a tonne from $2,004, aluminium $2,026 from $1,993, and stainless-steel ingredient nickel was $17,180 from $16,950. Soldering metal tin closed at $20,850 a tonne versus a close of $20,700, showing tightness in nearby supply, with cash tin trading at a premium of $25 a tonne to the three-month benchmark Weighing on tin was news that Indonesian producer PT Koba Tin had shipped 400 tonnes of tin ingot to Singapore, breaching a near-two month industry export stoppage that has been supporting prices. Metal Prices at 1713 GMT Comex copper in cents/lb, LME prices in $/T and SHFE prices in yuan/T Metal Last Change Pct Move End 2010 Ytd Pct move COMEX Cu 338.20 11.20 +3.43 444.70 -23.95 LME Alum 2028.75 35.75 +1.79 2470.00 -17.86 LME Cu 7485.50 255.50 +3.53 9600.00 -22.03 LME Lead 2031.25 27.25 +1.36 2550.00 -20.34 LME Nickel 17180.00 105.00 +0.61 24750.00 -30.59 LME Tin 20750.00 50.00 +0.24 26900.00 -22.86 LME Zinc 1952.75 42.75 +2.24 2454.00 -20.43 SHFE Alu 15830.00 20.00 +0.13 16840.00 -6.00 SHFE Cu* 55370.00 1780.00 +3.32 71850.00 -22.94 SHFE Zin 15170.00 335.00 +2.26 19475.00 -22.11 ** Benchmark month for COMEX copper * 3rd contract month for SHFE AL, CU and ZN SHFE ZN began trading on 26/3/07

Source