* Volumes low as year-end holiday season draws near * U.S. budget talks prompt uncertainty * Coming up: U.S. durable goods data for Nov at 1330 GMT By Harpreet Bhal LONDON, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Copper prices edged up on Friday from steep falls in the previous session, although investors remained nervous that the United States would not be able to avert a fiscal crisis, which could push the world's largest economy into recession. Trading volumes were thin, however, as markets wound down for the year-end holiday season. Investors have been closely watching talks in recent weeks between the White House and Republican lawmakers to avert the "fiscal cliff" - $600 billion worth of tax hikes and spending cuts that are set to be triggered in the new year. In the latest move, a proposal from Republican leader John Boehner to avoid the cliff failed to get support from his party, casting fresh uncertainty over the talks. "You're likely to see a resolution to that relatively soon ... but with the latest uncertain developments overnight, you could see market jitters increase, and I would expect that to be negative for industrial metals," Ross Strachan, an economist at Capital Economics, said. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was untraded in rings but was bid at $7,791 a tonne, up from a close of $7,772 on Thursday when it hit a three-week intraday low of $7,735 a tonne. Since a price rally of almost 8 percent from mid-November to a near two-month high on Dec. 12, momentum has begun to fade as traders have been cutting risk and squaring positions ahead of year-end. The metal is up 2.4 percent so far this year. CHINA EYED Looking ahead to 2013, Strachan said investors are likely to focus on the outlook for demand from China, which has remained soft this year. "There has been a recovery in the Chinese economy, but it is weaker than many seem to believe. We think Chinese demand (for copper) is going to be much weaker than people expect because of the high stock levels," Strachan said. In China, the world's top copper consumer, stocks in bonded warehouses have swelled due to weak domestic demand and could dampen the country's appetite for imports in coming months. China imported 250,666 tonnes of refined copper in November, down 27 percent from a year earlier, although imports over the 10 months to end-November were still up 30 percent on the year at 3.16 million tonnes. In other metals, aluminium was untraded in official rings but bid at $2,071 a tonne, up from a last bid of $2,060 at the close on Thursday. It is on course for its biggest weekly loss in more than two months. Japan's aluminium premiums for January-March shipments were mostly set at $240 to $245 per tonne, down from a record in the current quarter, sources said. Zinc was at $2,062 from Thursday's close of $2,071 a tonne, while lead traded at $2,293 from $2,325. The latest data showed lead stocks in warehouses monitored by the LME continued to point to a falling trend, which began in late November. Stocks are down 9 pct or 31,725 tonnes this month to 330,550 tonnes. Nickel traded at $17,480 from $17,575 and tin was untraded, but bid at $23,345 from a last bid of $23,345. Metal Prices at 1332 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 353.00 0.50 +0.14 344.75 2.39 LME Alum 2078.00 -7.00 -0.34 2020.00 2.87 LME Cu 7803.75 31.75 +0.41 7600.00 2.68 LME Lead 2296.50 -28.50 -1.23 2034.00 12.91 LME Nickel 17496.00 -79.00 -0.45 18650.00 -6.19 LME Tin 23201.00 -299.00 -1.27 19200.00 20.84 LME Zinc 2065.25 -5.75 -0.28 1845.00 11.94 SHFE Alu 15260.00 10.00 +0.07 15845.00 -3.69 SHFE Cu* 56740.00 -130.00 -0.23 55360.00 2.49 SHFE Zin 15385.00 10.00 +0.07 14795.00 3.99 ** 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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