* ShFE 1-3 month copper spreads flag lack of spot demand * Weaker dollar lends support to metals * Coming Up: U.S. jobless claims for Dec; 1330 GMT By Melanie Burton and Jane Lee SHANGHAI, Feb 2 (Reuters) - London copper slipped on Thursday as gains in the past month kept Chinese buyers at bay and the euro zone debt crisis continued to weigh on sentiment, but upbeat global manufacturing data is expected to keep a floor under prices. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange inched down 0.7 percent to $8,372 a tonne by 0256 GMT, partly reversing gains from the previous session. The metal rose 9.5 percent in January, its biggest monthly increase in three. The most-traded April copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell 0.3 percent to 59,590 yuan ($9,400) a tonne. Factory activity rose in China, the United States and Germany in January, and the three manufacturing superpowers drove gains in global output even as Europe struggles with fallout from its festering debt crisis. "The market is digesting the supportive PMI numbers, which have confirmed that industrial activity looks considerably better compared to Q4 last year, but there's some uncertainty, especially over the funding stress in Europe," said Stefan Graber, a Credit Suisse Private Banking analyst based in Singapore. "In China indicators tell us that physical demand is not pointing towards strengthening. A positive payrolls number on Friday to follow up on the PMI figures could line us up for a good week, but some retracement or at least consolidation for metals looks more likely." Front-month SHFE copper was traded at a 700 yuan discount against the April contract, from a premium during August to December, flagging a lack of nearby appetite for metal. Higher London prices against Shanghai were also discouraging imports, suggesting that Chinese buyers were not eager to make purchases at these levels. But a Hong-Kong-based trader said there had been some pickup in spot market activity earlier this week when copper briefly touched a one-week low. "Buying went up after copper prices dropped for a few days, on restocking of inventory, but the markets are still pretty quiet," the trader said. Elsewhere, traders seeing weak appetite from top consumer China queried the bullish credentials of falling LME copper stocks in the United States. Underpinning the metals, the dollar lost ground against the euro and commodity currencies as risk sentiment improved after a batch of manufacturing data from China to Germany allayed the market's worst fears about global growth. A weaker dollar makes commodities less expensive for holders of other currencies. In cooling news for lead demand, North American shipments of replacement automotive batteries slipped by 2.2 percent in December from November, and dropped 6.3 percent from December 2010, a U.S. industry group said. Base metals prices at 0256 GMT Metal Last Change Pct Move YTD pct chg LME Cu 8372.50 -67.50 -0.80 10.16 SHFE CU FUT APR2 59540 40 +0.07 7.55 HG COPPER MAR2 380.70 -3.50 -0.91 10.80 LME Alum 2262.00 -3.00 -0.13 11.98 SHFE AL FUT APR2 16220 05 +0.03 2.37 LME Zinc 2096.25 -34.75 -1.63 13.62 SHFE ZN FUT APR2 15785 10 +0.06 6.69 LME Nickel 20980.00 5.00 +0.02 12.13 LME Lead 2224.00 -11.00 -0.49 9.29 SHFE PB FUT 16025.00 30.00 +0.19 4.84 LME Tin 24300.00 145.00 +0.60 26.56 LME/Shanghai arb^ 2159 Shanghai and COMEX contracts show most active months ($1=6.3067 Chinese yuan) (Reporting by Jane Lee; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

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