* Premier Wen confident of euro zone surviving debt crisis * Signs of pickup in Chinese spot copper demand wane * Tightness emerges in nearby LME aluminium, lead * Coming up: U.S. personal income/spending; 1230 GMT By Eric Onstad and Carrie Ho LONDON/SHANGHAI, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Copper broke a three-day losing streak on Thursday after the Chinese premier voiced confidence in the euro zone, but investors were cautious ahead of the key Jackson Hole meeting expected to give signals about further U.S. monetary easing. Copper flipped from losses during early Asian trading into positive territory after Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said he was confident the euro zone could pull out of its debt crisis, giving a boost to investor confidence in the global economy. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange rose 0.5 percent to $7,610 per tonne by 1020 GMT, snapping three sessions of losses. Copper, which is down 13 percent from a year peak hit in February, has been trapped in a range of $7,300-$7,700 during August in low volumes. Open interest fell again to 220,242 lots, a fresh low since December 2006. Some analysts are wary of the impact of the meeting of central bank heads in Jackson Hole, Wyoming on Friday, where many investors are counting on U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to give hints of more monetary easing. Analyst Duncan Hobbs at Macquarie in London says the outcome of the meeting may not live up to expectations priced into markets, especially since the Fed has already given signals that easing would occur only if the U.S. economy declined sharply. "If the launch of QE3 depends on the clear deterioration in the economic data, then I don't see that. To that extent I think there's the risk of disappointment," he said. In the short term, the market was bolstered by the comments by China's premier after meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. "Copper prices started turning around after the meeting between Wen and Merkel. Investors feel reassured," said a Shanghai-based trader with an international firm. Wen also said China was willing to buy more EU government bonds if it could assess the risks involved, the strongest sign of support for its biggest trading partner in recent months. Traders said Wen's comments helped offset some of the bearishness which pervaded the market after China's top planning agency said the economy was slowly stabilising, dashing hopes for more aggressive stimulus measures by the government. The most active December copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange climbed 0.9 percent to 55,680 yuan ($8,800) per tonne, on track to reverse two sessions of losses. ALUMINIUM, LEAD NEARBY TIGHTNESS Hobbs said after the Jackson Hole meeting, metals markets might return their focus to weak fundamental demand from top metals consumer China. "There had been anticipation that there would be an upturn in the Chinese market in the final months of the year, but maybe some of that hope is evaporating." Physical demand for copper slackened in China, where the premium for the spot copper price over the prompt September month contract narrowed to 45 yuan on Wednesday, state-backed research firm Minmetal Futures said in a note on Thursday. Premiums were at around 100 yuan last week. The narrowing spread is a sign that the recent spurt of spot purchases by smelters and speculators has failed to prop up the market amid poor demand from copper end-users, traders said. In other metals, nearby spreads tightened in aluminium and lead. This was "stoking fears of a potential squeeze scenario on the horizon", Sucden Financial said in its evening note. The September-October aluminium spread tightened to a backwardation of $1.50 compared to a contango of $12.50 about two weeks ago. Three month aluminium rose 0.3 percent to $1,898 a tonne. In lead, the September-October spread went into a backwardation of $2 versus a contango of $3 a week ago. Three-month lead shed 0.2 percent to $1,971.25. Zinc rose 0.4 percent to $1,862.50 a tonne, nickel added 0.8 percent to $16,428 and tin stabilised after its sharp fall on Wednesday, slipping 0.2 percent to $19,585. Metal Prices at 1023 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 346.45 1.65 +0.48 344.75 0.49 LME Alum 1897.25 4.25 +0.22 2020.00 -6.08 LME Cu 7609.50 34.50 +0.46 7600.00 0.13 LME Lead 1969.25 -6.75 -0.34 2034.00 -3.18 LME Nickel 16413.00 113.00 +0.69 18650.00 -11.99 LME Tin 19585.00 -35.00 -0.18 19200.00 2.01 LME Zinc 1862.00 6.00 +0.32 1845.00 0.92 SHFE Alu 15415.00 -5.00 -0.03 15845.00 -2.71 SHFE Cu* 55790.00 410.00 +0.74 55360.00 0.78 SHFE Zin 14775.00 30.00 +0.20 14795.00 -0.14 ** Benchmark month for COMEX copper * 3rd contract month for SHFE AL, CU and ZN SHFE ZN began trading on 26/3/07

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