WELLINGTON (Dow Jones)--Base metals rose on the London Metal Exchange in Asian hours Friday, as better-than-expected economic data from the U.S. boosted sentiment amid thin, rangebound pre-holiday trading. At 0510 GMT, LME three-month copper was at $7,579 a metric ton, up $44 from its previous close and just off the intraday high of $7,580/ton. "The optimism surrounding copper is largely due to a significant drop in LME inventories over the last week as well as hopes for a strengthening US economy, buoyed by recent data flow," Standard Bank said in a note. The red metal is up 4.4% in the week to date. Copper, like the other base metals, is sensitive to shifts in economic growth, which are indicative of changes in demand for the commodity, which is used in areas ranging from construction to home electronics. Weekly U.S. jobless claims, which fell to its lowest level since mid-April 2008, as well as an index of leading economic indicators, which rose for a seventh consecutive month, encouraged buying sentiment. "I expect more upside than downside in copper," said UOB KayHian senior analyst Helen Lau, who put support at $7,300/ton and then at $7,200/ton said she expects it to revisit the $8,000/ton mark in the first half of 2012. Analysts said a lack of news from euro zone could provide modest support, but base metals could remain vulnerable in case of credit downgrades for France and Germany. "Lower liquidity may mean that we will see erratic price swings in the last few days of the year," Commerzbank said in a note. The following are LME three-month base metal prices at 0510 GMT and changes from the previous PM kerb: LME 3-Mo Last Change %Change Prev PM Close Copper $7,579.00 +$44.00 +0.6 $7,535.00 Aluminum $2,023.50 +$5.50 +0.3 $2,018.00 Lead $2,017.00 +$17.00 +0.9 $2,000.00 Nickel $18,769.00 +$74.00 +0.4 $18,695.00 Tin $19,400.00 +$200.00 +1.0 $19,200.00 Zinc $1,874.25 +$24.25 +1.3 $1,850.00 -By Arpan Mukherjee, Dow Jones Newswires; 64-4-471-5990; arpan.mukherjee@dowjones.com

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