Industrial metals settled higheras a combination of a weaker dollar and quarter end squaringhelped give the market a lift, despite negative reports from the manufacturing and labor markets.

IN FOCUS:

Mitsubishi Materials Corp, Japan's third-largest copper smelter, said on Thursday that it plans to produce 156,102 tonnes of copper in October-March, up about 20 percent from a year earlier.

Data from the United States showed the economy shrank at a slower 0.7 percent rate in the second quarter, but larger-than-expected job losses in the private sector and a contraction in Mid-west manufacturing activity pointed to patchy recovery from recession.

Chile, the world's biggest copper producing country, said copper outputrose 7.8 percent from the same month last year, the government said on Wednesday.

Copper buyers in China and South Korea expect Chile's Codelco to offer them higher term premiums for 2010 shipments, despite leaving those for Europe unchanged from 2009 at $80 a tonne.

FUNDAMENTAL OUTLOOK:

We expect industrialmetals to show some softness early in the session. However, expectations of strong manufacturing data from the U. S. and Euro zone is expected to generate some buying interest in this complexlater in the day.