* Decent demand at French and Spanish bond auctions ease
eurozone fears
* U.S. new jobless claims data disappoints
* Bonded stocks flow to LME to ease backwardation
* Coming up: U.S. CFTC commitment of traders data, 1930 GMT
(Updates prices, adds quotes, details)
By Carrie Ho
SHANGHAI, April 20 (Reuters) - London copper traded slightly
above $8,000 a tonne on Friday, hovering near its previous
close, as investors waited for more decisive cues on demand such
as whether China loosens monetary policy and the health of the
euro zone.
Thursday's successful French and Spanish bond auctions eased
some fears over the euro zone debt crisis, but the positive news
was later offset by soft jobs data out of the United States.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange
inched up 0.1 percent to $8,057.75 a tonne by 0721 GMT amid low
trading volumes, after closing flat on Thursday, but is on track
to record a 1 percent weekly rise.
The most-active July copper contract on the Shanghai Futures
Exchange rose 0.1 percent to 57,750 yuan a tonne, after
falling 0.3 percent i n the previous session. It is on track to
post a 1.1 percent fall on the week.
France and Spain sold all the bonds they wanted at auction
on Thursday, although for Spain the cost was rising yields,
indicating growing concerns the government will not be able to
tame its deficit.
The number of Americans claiming unemployment benefits for
the first time fell only slightly last week, suggesting that job
growth in April will not improve much after March's
disappointing performance.
With the major news of the day squaring off one another,
copper investors played it safe, while keeping their fingers
crossed for big economic announcements that may affect demand.
"Price movements are small, as many Chinese traders have
confined themselves to a bit of spread play, buying Shanghai
copper and selling London copper, hoping to close the positions
for a bit of profit later," said a Shanghai-based trader.
"Traders are mainly waiting on the sidelines to see if
Beijing will loosen monetary policy soon. Copper demand has
picked up slightly as some consumers, attracted by the fall in
prices to around the $8,000 level, did some limited restocking.
But overall demand is soft and unable to push prices much
higher," said another Shanghai-based trader.
"Over the short term, downside room will most likely be
determined by the euro zone crisis which continues to ferment
and hurt sentiment. Any news affecting demand in the major
economies will be more noteworthy for us than the slight fall in
global supply that we have seen so far," he added.
Glencore recently announced the temporary shutdown of its
PASAR copper smelter and refinery in the Philippines, which has
an annual cathode production capacity of 215,000 tonnes.
But the loss in supply was more than offset by reports of
high Shanghai bonded warehouses stocks, which Goldman Sachs
estimated at 620,000 tonnes in its recent note.
However, the stock levels may ease slightly as high cash
prices for London Metal Exchange copper are spurring Chinese
firms to re-export their stocks in bonded warehouses in
Shanghai, boosting supplies for nearby delivery at LME
warehouses and helping to ease backwardation.
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Base metals prices at 0721 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct Move YTD pct chg
LME Cu 8057.75 7.75 +0.10 6.02
SHFE CU FUT JUL2 57750 80 +0.14 3.81
LME Alum 2072.00 -1.00 -0.05 2.57
SHFE AL FUT JUL2 16080 05 +0.03 1.52
HG COPPER MAY2 363.65 0.90 +0.25 5.84
LME Zinc 1994.50 -5.50 -0.28 8.10
SHFE ZN FUT JUL2 15520 50 +0.32 4.90
LME Nickel 17685.00 85.00 +0.48 -5.48
LME Lead 2078.50 -1.50 -0.07 2.14
SHFE PB FUT 15730 55 +0.35 2.88
LME Tin 21375.00 0.00 +0.00 11.33
LME/Shanghai arb 1724
Shanghai and COMEX contracts show most active months
^ LME 3-m copper in yuan, including 17 pct VAT, minus SHFE
third month
Reuters 3000Xtra subscribers can access Metals Production
Database by clicking on URL below
mpd.session.rservices.com
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