LONDON: Copper bounced back on Friday after two days of losses and ahead of a US jobs report, amid optimism that improved demand was fuelled by global economic recovery. The metal used in power grids and construction was on track for its first weekly gain in three. Three month copper on the London Metal Exchange climbed 1.0 percent to $7,181.50 a tonne by 0947 GMT after touching a session high of $7,192, reversing losses from the previous session. "Seasonally we're going into a strong demand period and the underlying macro story seems to be getting better all the time. I think people have underestimated the strength of demand in China," said analyst Daniel Smith at Standard Chartered in London. "We still feel the risk is on the upside for copper. I don't see any reason why we can't get up to $7,500 in the next few months, although it's only a mildly bullish story, we're not gung-ho bullish because of the rising supply." Copper, recovering from a three-week low near $7,080 a tonne hit last week, is trading in a broad $7,000-$7,500 band, underpinned by the slow revival in the global economy but curbed by improving mine supply. "Things are looking better on the demand side - China looks like it is holding up and some better news is coming out of Europe," said analyst Matt Fusarelli of AME Group in Sydney. LME prices were set for a weekly gain of around one percent, the first advance since mid-August. The most active December contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange edged up 0.3 percent to close at 51,850 yuan ($8,500) a tonne. TIN STRONG Chinese data due out next week is expected to confirm that Beijing has prevented a sharp slowdown in its economy, after the government stepped in with policies to encourage investment and strengthen its hand to push through reforms. China is the world's top consumer of copper, accounting for around 40 percent of refined demand. After a string of upbeat US economic data, investors are focusing on Friday's jobs report, due at 1230 GMT. The report is expected to show US job creation picked up in August, signalling a steady pace of economic growth that would give the Federal Reserve ammunition to start scaling back its massive monetary stimulus this month. "I would have thought that some modest QE withdrawal is not going to take anyone by surprise, but people will be quite cautious ahead of that," Smith said. Indonesia's only regulated tin exchange said it is fielding calls from potential buyers of the metal after new trading rules forced a top producer to stop shipments last week. A shortfall in supply helped push up LME cash tin to the highest premium in three years at $125 on Wednesday. This moderated to $77 on Thursday. "At the same time, there have been clear signs recently of an upturn in tin demand and on our estimates the global tin market was already on course to record a small deficit this year, before these latest developments in Indonesia," analyst Duncan Hobbs at Macquarie said in a note. Three month tin on the LME added to recent gains, jumping 2.1 percent to $22,510 a tonne. Aluminium gained 0.8 percent to $1,812, zinc climbed 1.5 percent to $1,898, lead also added 1.5 percent o $2,155.25 and nickel rose 2.1 percent to $14,021.

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