* Lead hits near eight-month high as stocks fall * Recent factory data from U.S., China, Europe caps gains * Coming Up: U.S. CFTC commitment of traders data ; 1930 GMT (Adds details, quotes, updates prices; previous SHANGHAI) By Eric Onstad LONDON, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Copper steadied on Friday as optimism that stimulus measures would boost liquidity and metals demand in a struggling global economy, especially top raw materials consumer China, outweighed poor data in the previous session. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange rose 0.7 percent to $8,325 per tonne by 1016 GMT after giving up 1 percent on Thursday, putting it on track for a weekly fall of 0.6 percent, snapping two weeks of gains. Losses in the previous session were on the back of soft factory data from the U.S., Europe and China, which suggested governments still have much to do to lift the global economy out of its current rut. Copper has failed to touch fresh highs after hitting a 4-1/2 month peak of $8,422 on Wednesday as doubts set in about its rally of about 14 percent since early August. Markets have rallied on expectations and then confirmation of quantitative easing (QE) in Europe, the United States and Japan together with infrastructure projects in China. "The physical markets and the fundamentals really don't necessarily justify the rally, so the market's having second thoughts," said analyst Leon Westgate at Standard Bank in London. "The rather volatile, generally sideways trading we've seen is reflective of that - as the market digests QE versus the still lacklustre economic backdrop." Westgate said he was not a buyer of base metals at current levels based on fundamentals, but was cautious since commodity prices often ignore fundamentals for periods of time. LME copper stocks MCUSTX-TOTAL increased by 2,775 tonnes this week and Shanghai inventories jumped by 10,428 tonnes. "Apparent demand for copper in China has been relatively weak since June, and the period of Chinese restocking between Aug. 2011 and March 2012 may already be giving way to a period in which stockpiles are run down, particularly if high LME prices deter imports of new material," analyst Nic Brown at Natixis said in a weekly report. On the Shanghai Futures Exchange, the most active January copper contract closed up 0.73 percent at 59,740 yuan ($9,500) per tonne, though it suffered a weekly fall of around 0.5 percent. ShFE copper's net daily open interest was up 8,494 lots by the midday close, which, together with rising prices, showed that fresh longs had entered the market. "Sentiment is largely positive as governments seem inclined to stimulate their economies. Investors are counting on the Chinese government staying on a stimulus path at least until the 18th Communist Party Congress," said a Shanghai-based trader. LEAD HITS FRESH PEAK In other metals, battery material lead touched the highest in nearly eight months as LME inventories continued to fall. Three-month lead climbed 1.2 percent to $2,293 per tonne after touching a peak of $2,299.75, the strongest since Jan. 27. LME lead stocks MPBSTX-TOTAL have fallen by about a fifth since late June. In aluminium and tin, most of the tightness seen this week on nearby spreads has dissipated after the September contract expired. The "tom/next" spread, representing the cost to roll over an expiring contract to the following day, in aluminium CMALT-0 was down to a $5 backwardation from as high as $40 on Tuesday and in tin CMSNT-0 fell to $8 from $25 on Wednesday. Three month aluminium rose 0.4 percent to $2,118 a tonne and tin added 1.7 percent to $20,900. Galvanizing metal zinc gained 1.1 percent to $2,133 a tonne and stainless steel material nickel rose 1.3 percent to $18,130. Metal Prices at 1019 GMT Comex copper in cents/lb, LME prices in $/T and SHFE prices in yuan/T Metal Last Change Pct Move End 2011 Ytd Pct move COMEX Cu 379.80 3.35 +0.89 344.75 10.17 LME Alum 2118.25 8.25 +0.39 2020.00 4.86 LME Cu 8322.00 57.00 +0.69 7600.00 9.50 LME Lead 2292.25 27.25 +1.20 2034.00 12.70 LME Nickel 18130.00 235.00 +1.31 18650.00 -2.79 LME Tin 20875.00 -525.00 -2.45 19200.00 8.72 LME Zinc 2138.00 28.00 +1.33 1845.00 15.88 SHFE Alu 15740.00 40.00 +0.25 15845.00 -0.66 SHFE Cu* 59710.00 400.00 +0.67 55360.00 7.86 SHFE Zin 15655.00 120.00 +0.77 14795.00 5.81 ** Benchmark month for COMEX copper * 3rd contract month for SHFE AL, CU and ZN SHFE ZN began trading on 26/3/07 ($1 = 6.3038 Chinese yuan) (Additional reporting by Carrie Ho and Melanie Burton; Editing by Alison Birrane)

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