* Copper, aluminium, zinc, lead around 5-mth highs * Traders pricing in future supply crunch for copper * Coming Up: U.S. August durable goods orders at 1230 GMT (Updates prices, adds comment/detail, pvs SINGAPORE) By Melanie Burton LONDON, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Copper and aluminium swung to new five-month highs on Friday, with prospects of seasonally strong fourth-quarter demand and a downward dollar trend paving the way for further gains. Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange was $7,932 at 0936 GMT, up from a close of $7,885 per tonne on Thursday. It earlier hit a new five-month peak of $7,935 per tonne and is on track to take out the $8,000 mark. A break above $8,043.75 would open the way to prices last seen in August 2008. Aluminium, CMAL3, zinc CMZN3 and lead CMPB3 all climbed to new highs in around five months, while tin matched last week's two-year top at $12,800 per tonne. But volumes were slender, with the world's top metals consumer China still on holiday for the Mid-Autumn Festival. It will only reopen on Monday and national holidays resume on Oct. 1-7. "The rally is obviously the weakness of the dollar, and the prospect of quantitative easing and the flood of money looking for a home," said analyst Stephen Briggs of BNP Paribas. "It's [also] to do with sentiment....This is all about the perception that the market will become tight in the future." A weaker dollar makes commodities cheaper for holders of other currencies. The dollar which has hovered around six-month lows against a basket of currencies this month was slightly firmer on Friday, after talk that Japan's central bank intervened in its currency markets. [ID:nLDE68N09K] [.DXY] Later this session, the industrial metals could yet be swayed by forex market machinations, with a stream of U.S. figures due. These include August durable goods orders at 1230 GMT and new home sales for August at 1400 GMT. COPPER FORWARD MARKET TIGHTENS Traders said that futures contracts for copper near term were attracting a premium over those further forward, but that even the cost for those contracts was rising, as traders priced in a supply crunch to come. "The market is pricing in quite a protracted period of shortness. There is an expectation of running into a period of shortage," a metals trader said. Three-month copper was trading at a $1.50 premium versus the March 2011 contract on the LME rising to $70.50 against December. [0#MCU:] Copper stocks in LME warehouses rose by a scant 100 tonnes, to 380,225 tonnes, the latest LME data showed, but as a general trend have been in decline, falling counter cycle over summer. They have dropped by around one third since February, when stocks stood at 555,075 tonnes, the highest level since October 2003. [0#LME-STOCKS] The market is also already seeing pressure this year, with global demand outpacing supply. The International Copper Study Group said this week that the global market for refined copper was in a 281,000 tonne deficit in the first half. [ID:nLDE68K12C] Aluminium CMAL3 was at $2,303.75 a tonne from $2,292, having reached $2,311.75, a new five-month peak, earlier. Lead CMPB3 at $2,302 was up against the $2,275 close. It touched $2,309 earlier its highest since late April. Zinc CMZN3 changed hands at $2,280 against $2,250, having hit its most expensive since early May at $2,280. Laggard nickel climbed to $22,844 from $22,700, but remained below recent multi-month highs above $23,570. Tin at $23,740 was up from $23,600, having matched two-year highs at $23,800 earlier on the back of ongoing supply constraints from Indonesia. [ID:nJAK60863]. Barclays expects mining supply constraints to push tin and copper to new annual average peaks next year. [ID:LDE68M1TG] Metal Prices at 0950 GMT Comex copper in cents/lb, LME prices in $/T and SHFE prices in yuan/T Metal Last Change Pct Move End 2009 Ytd Pct move COMEX Cu 360.70 2.20 +0.61 334.65 7.78 LME Alum 2300.00 8.00 +0.35 2230.00 3.14 LME Cu 7920.00 35.00 +0.44 7375.00 7.39 LME Lead 2298.00 23.00 +1.01 2432.00 -5.51 LME Nickel 22775.00 215.00 +0.95 18525.00 22.94 LME Tin 23575.00 -25.00 -0.11 16950.00 39.09 LME Zinc 2275.00 83.00 +3.79 2560.00 -11.13 SHFE Alu 15725.00 -35.00 -0.22 17160.00 -8.36 SHFE Cu* 59830.00 -420.00 -0.70 59900.00 -0.12 SHFE Zin 17805.00 -300.00 -1.66 21195.00 -15.99 ** Benchmark month for COMEX copper * 3rd contract month for SHFE AL, CU and ZN SHFE ZN began trading on 26/3/07 (Reporting by Melanie Burton; editing by Sue Thomas)

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