METALS-Copper posts 4th weekly fall on global demand fears

* Deepening euro zone debt crisis spurs copper demand fears
    * Aluminium under pressure as financing deals falter
    * Coming up: U.S. new home sales Monday

    By Frank Tang and Susan Thomas
    NEW YORK/LONDON, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Copper fell on Friday on a
dollar rally, as the industrial metal notched a fourth consecutive
week of losses on global demand fears amid a deepening euro zone
sovereign debt crisis.
    Highlighting global recession worries caused by the European debt
contagion, Italy paid a record 6.5 percent to borrow money over six
months, sparking a sell off in global markets. The S&P 500 index
posted its worst weekly performance in two months.
    "European demand for copper is falling off the face of the earth
right now. There are also concerns over China's slowdown. All of
those factors are contributing to the ugly bear channels on copper
charts, with the metal trading below key moving averages," said Frank
McGhee, head precious metals trader of Integrated Brokerage Services
LLC.Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange ended at
$7,230 a tonne, down from a last bid of $7,265 a tonne on Thursday.
LME copper lost around 4 percent this week and touched a one-month
low of $7,100.25 on Thursday.
    U.S. copper futures for December delivery settled down 90
cents at $3.27 a lb. Volume was 25 percent above its 30-day norm
despite an early U.S. market close in observance of the Thanksgiving
Day holiday.
    Four consecutive weeks of falls in copper have wiped close to 9
percent off the price of copper in the month to date. It is trading
around 24 percent lower on the year.
    Investor anxiety remained high in Europe even though France and
Germany agreed on Thursday to stop arguing over whether the European
Central Bank should do more to rescue markets in the 17-nation
currency bloc.
    Three-month aluminium ended at $1,993 a tonne from a last
bid of $2,018.15. The price has been hovering close to its lowest
since July last year of $1,982.25.
    "Aluminium is demonstrating the worst fundamentals at the
minute," said Natixis analyst Nic Brown. "In the here and now with
what's going on in the financing side, aluminium is more vulnerable
than other metals."
    Traders have said more than 1 million tonnes of global aluminium
stocks are expected to be released from financing deals as credit
tightens.
    Reflecting tight credit conditions, an executive at British-based
trading house Stemcor told Reuters metals trading companies face
increasing funding costs and counterparty risk as the banks' funding
crisis threatens to spread to the industrial sector.
    In other metals, tin closed at $20,700 from $20,350 and
battery material lead ended at $2,004 from $1,992.
    Zinc closed at $1,910 from $1,888. Nickel did not
trade at the close, but bid at $16,950, down from a close of $17,075
on Thursday.
Metal Prices at 1:00 EST (1800 GMT)
 Metal            Last      Change  Pct Move   End 2010   Ytd Pct
                                                            move
 COMEX Cu       327.00       -0.90     -0.27     444.70    -26.47
 LME Alum      1991.00      -32.00     -1.58    2470.00    -19.39
 LME Cu        7230.00      -10.00     -0.14    9600.00    -24.69
 LME Lead      2003.00       11.00     +0.55    2550.00    -21.45
 LME Nickel   16950.00     -125.00     -0.73   24750.00    -31.52
 LME Tin      20700.00      350.00     +1.72   26900.00    -23.05
 LME Zinc      1909.00       21.00     +1.11    2454.00    -22.21
 SHFE Alu     15810.00      -70.00     -0.44   16840.00     -6.12
 SHFE Cu*     53590.00     -850.00     -1.56   71850.00    -25.41
 SHFE Zin     14835.00     -190.00     -1.26   19475.00    -23.83
** 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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