METALS-Shanghai copper up, market awaiting directions

* Copper expected to be rangebound, lacking directions

* U.S. payroll and other data expected eyed

SHANGHAI, Nov 6 - Shanghai copper rose nearly 1 percent on Friday, but was expected to fluctuate in the established range waiting for direction as investors watch for U.S. economic data due later in the day.

The better-than-expected U.S. jobless claims and non-farm productivity data released on Thursday helped support sentiment in London copper prices, which were also feeling the weight of growing inventories of the industrial metal.

U.S. business productivity grew at its fastest pace in six years in the third quarter and new jobless claims fell to a 10-month low last week, suggesting the labour market might bottom out.

The U.S. economic data due on Friday includes October's non-farm payrolls and wholesale inventories figures, and will shed light on the health of the world's largest economy.

Shanghai's benchmark third-month copper futures contract rose 0.8 percent to 51,130 yuan ($7,490) a tonne by 0224 GMT, heading for a slight decline of 0.1 percent on the week.

The three-month copper futures contract on the London Metal Exchange gained $40 to $6,570 a tonne, on course for a second straight week of gains with a rise of 1.5 percent.

"At this point there isn't much interest in trading copper, as seen in dwindling trading volumes. Global consumption isn't great, stockpiles are high, but outlook for next year is optimistic -- the market is in short-term balance for now," said a Shanghai-based trader.

"There will be interest if prices jump or tumble, otherwise we'll just have to go through a long enough consolidation period before the trade interest returns."

Copper inventories at LME warehouses have been rising since mid-July, and climbed by 5,775 tonnes to 379,825 tonnes on Thursday, their highest level since early May.

The Shanghai Futures Exchange is due to release weekly warehouse stocks data later in the day. Last week, copper stocks rose 7 percent to 102,835 tonnes, their highest in more than a month.

Shanghai's copper stockpiles are likely to keep rising this week, traders and analysts said.

"December's consumption is expected to decline from November's, while the U.S. dollar has not made the rebound, leaving copper to trade in a narrow range of $6,500 to $6,600," said Zhu Yanzhong, an analyst at Jinrui Futures.

Shanghai zinc edged down 5 yuan to 16,840 yuan a tonne, and LME zinc fell $4 to $2,215 a tonne.

"Spot traders would rather do transactions in the futures market due to the deep discount of spot prices to futures, and downstream consumption isn't particularly active," said Zeng Qianling, a zinc analyst at Jinrui Futures.

Shanghai's zinc stockpiles jumped nearly 24 percent last week, and are likely to rise again this week, Zeng said. Base metals prices at 0224 GMT Metal Last Change Pct Move End 2008 Pct chg 09 LME Cu 6570.00 40.00 +0.61 3060.00 114.71 SHFE Cu* 51130.00 420.00 +0.83 23840.00 114.47 LME Alum 1925.00 0.00 +0.00 1535.00 25.41 SHFE Alum* 15200.00 10.00 +0.07 11540.00 31.72 COMEX Cu** 295.05 0.00 +0.00 139.50 111.51 LME Zinc 2215.00 -4.00 -0.18 1208.00 83.36 SHFE Zinc 16840.00 -5.00 -0.03 10120.00 66.40 LME Nickel 17800.00 40.00 +0.23 11700.00 52.14 LME Lead 2335.00 -5.00 -0.21 999.00 133.73 LME Tin 14900.00 -50.00 -0.33 10700.00 39.25 LME/Shanghai arb^ 1346 Dollar/yuan 6.8267 \ 6.8285 ** 1st contract month for COMEX copper * 3rd contact month for SHFE aluminium, copper and zinc ^ LME 3-m copper in yuan, including 17 pct VAT, minus SHFE third month