March copper futures are expected to open floor trading around 7 cents a pound higher Friday, based on electronic activity ahead of the pit session on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Copper rallied in London trading as shorts covered ahead of the U.S. jobs report, traders there said. Momentum also came from a strong showing on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, and technical buying emerged on the uptick. In other markets that have the potential to impact metals in the short term, the euro is up marginally to $1.2801 from $1.2798 late Thursday afternoon. In screen trading ahead of the pit open, the March S&P 500 futures are up 1.40 points to 841.90. March crude oil is down $1.29 to $39.88 a barrel in overnight activity. The monthly U.S. employment report is due out at 8:30 a.m. EST (1330 GMT). The consensus forecast is for a decline of 525,000 jobs last month, with the unemployment rate rising to 7.5% from 7.2% in December. In New York Thursday, copper futures closed modestly lower as the market ran into resistance after recently approaching the upper end of its trading range. March copper fell 3.10 cents to settle at $1.50. Inventories of copper stored in London Metal Exchange warehouses rose 2,025 metric tons Friday, leaving them at 504,625. The most recent Comex inventory data, released late Thursday afternoon, were up 43 short tons at 40,848 short tons. Data released on Fridays for the Shanghai Futures Exchange showed a rise of 11,986 metric tons to 28,553.

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