* Copper prices hit highest since late April * Copper supply worries outweigh China rate hike * China's monetary tightening seen near end * Coming Up: ECB rate decision (Updates prices, adds quotes and details) By Carrie Ho SHANGHAI, July 7 (Reuters) - Copper prices rose to their highest in more than two months on Thursday, buoyed by supply disruptions in Indonesia and Chile, after dipping earlier on concerns that a rate hike by Beijing would crimp demand from China, the world's top copper consumer. Expectations that China's monetary tightening cycle may be close to or nearing its end mitigated the bearish influence of the 25 basis point rate hike. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange rose 0.5 percent to $9,565.50 a tonne by 0709 GMT, after touching a peak of $9,578 -- highest since April 27. It closed 0.2 percent lower in the last session, its first loss in seven sessions. The most-active September copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange ticked up 0.4 percent to 71,050 yuan per tonne. It touched a high of 71,300 yuan earlier in the day, its loftiest since April 25. Some of the world's biggest copper mines face strike-related disruptions, early signs of a possible resurgence in labor unrest that could strain an already fragile supply pipeline. In Indonesia, a strike for higher pay has paralyzed output at Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold's giant Grasberg mine. In Chile, some workers at state-owned Codelco are planning a one-day walkout, while unions in Peru called off a two-day strike at the last moment. "The Freeport Grasberg mine is one of the biggest individual suppliers of copper in the world. This and other supply disruption news out of Chile were a few things that were driving copper prices," said MineLife analyst Gavin Wendt. "I think the market is looking for an excuse to rally. There has been a lot of money that has come out of the resource base markets, out of silver, oil and gold, that's probably going to go back in again sometime soon," he added. China raised interest rates for the third time this year on Wednesday, making clear that taming inflation remains a top priority even as the growth pace of its vast economy gently eases. Analysts suggested China was close to, or even at the end, of a cycle of rate rises and the latest move was a pre-emptive strike before another big jump in inflation in data next week. The market will be now watching key U.S. jobs data on Friday for evidence of growth steadying in the world's largest economy. U.S. nonfarm payrolls likely rose modestly in June after suffering a setback the prior month. "There were some good data coming out of the U.S. recently which led some to believe that tomorrow's non-farm payrolls data may not be too bad," said Jinrui Futures analyst Zhao Kai. Growth in the U.S. economy's vast services sector remained sluggish in June as new orders fell, but economists said a steady employment reading pointed to job growth later in the year. Investors were also eyeing an anticipated rate hike by the European Central Bank later in the day. Financial markets see a quarter-point rise in the ECB's benchmark rate to 1.50 percent as a virtual certainty after the bank's recent reiterations that it is in a mode of "strong vigilance" -- code traditionally used to signal a hike. Base metals prices at 0709 GMT Metal Last Change Pct Move YTD pct chg LME Cu 9565.50 44.50 +0.47 -0.36 SHFE CU FUT SEP1 71050 280 +0.40 -1.11 LME Alum 2558.75 2.75 +0.11 3.59 SHFE AL FUT SEP1 17380 -25 -0.14 3.21 HG COPPER SEP1 435.60 1.95 +0.48 -1.88 LME Zinc 2393.50 13.50 +0.57 -2.47 SHFE ZN FUT SEP1 18140 -35 -0.19 -6.85 LME Nickel 23450.00 70.00 +0.30 -5.25 LME Lead 2704.00 4.00 +0.15 6.04 SHFE PB FUT 17320 5 +0.03 -5.61 LME Tin 26750.00 5.00 +0.02 -0.56 LME/Shanghai arb 1318 Shanghai and COMEX contracts show most active months ^ LME 3-m copper in yuan, including 17 pct VAT, minus SHFE third month Shanghai lead launched on March 24 (Reporting by Carrie Ho; Editing by Himani Sarkar)

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