METALS- Copper steady ahead of U.S. jobs data

* Euro falls against euro on German growth downgrade

* Antamina says no major output problems seen on mill repair

* Coming Up: U.S. nonfarm payrolls report; 1330 GMT

LONDON/SINGAPORE, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Copper was little changed on Friday as investors were cautious ahead of jobs data from the United States which might have an impact on U.S. talks to avert a looming fiscal crisis. China's industrial production figures that will be released at the weekend and a U.S. rate meeting next week by the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) are the other key events on the radar that will be scrutinised for signs of economic recovery and clues on future policy path. Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange was at $7,996 by 1130 GMT from $8,000 at the close on Thursday. Keeping metals under pressure, the euro fell to a nine-day low against the dollar after the Bundesbank slashed its growth outlook for Germany, with the single currency at risk of more losses on prospects of a euro zone rate cut. "The Bundesbank downgrade of German growth is taking the wind out of the euro and there is quite a thin turnover as people are waiting to see the non-farm payrolls," said Standard Bank analyst Leon Westgate. "The focus is on whether the data has a bearing on fiscal cliff discussions and weather poor data encourages politicians to seek a speedy agreement or not." The White House and Republicans in Congress dropped hints on Thursday that they had resumed low-level private talks on breaking the stalemate over the "fiscal cliff" but refused to divulge details. Traders hope Washington will eventually avert some $600 billion of tax hikes and spending cuts scheduled to start in January that threaten to tip the economy back into recession, but they are turning risk-averse as the deadline draws closer with no agreement in sight. "Those sceptical of a fiscal cliff resolution may be hoping that the non-farm payrolls shocks to the downside in order to jolt politicians into meaningful action," Citi said in a research note. "Those bearish on a resolution may wish for poor data leading to the short-term pain of a negative market reaction but long-term gain as politicians are coerced into compromise over fiscal cliff talks."

REFINING CHARGES Traders were busy putting together term shipment deals for 2013, with Chinese smelters and miners likely to forge agreements of $70 dollars per tonne and 7 cents per pound for treatment and refining charges, Macquarie said in a note. China's smelters received term 2012 TC/RC at $60 and 6 cents from BHP for Escondida concentrates and $63.5 and 6.35 cents from Freeport, both seen as benchmarks in Asia. Global miners pay TC/RC to smelters to convert concentrate into refined metal and the charges are deducted from the sale price based on LME copper prices. Higher charges are typically seen when concentrate supply rises. "The actual settlement for the benchmark contract for 2013 will be somewhere around the ... spot market, implying a small increase of global copper mine supply next year and still lower level of concentrates inventory at Chinese smelters," it said. Market talk that Peru's Antamina, one of the world's biggest copper-zinc mines, was suffering from production problems was not completely accurate, a mine spokesman said. "We do not have a problem with the sag mill. We have experienced a problem with one of our ball mills. We have all the parts required for the repair on site and there has been no impact on production and we don't expect any major impact on production," Alfonso Simpson, commercial manager of Antamina told Reuters. Tin was at $21,525 from $21,925 while zinc, used to galvanize steel was at $2,011.25 f rom $2,030 T hursday's close. Battery material lead was at $2,192 from $2,214 and aluminium was at $2,079.75 from $2,085. Nickel was at $17,095 from $17,175.

Metal Prices at 1132 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 363.55 0.05 +0.01 344.75

5.45

LME Alum 2079.50 -25.50 -1.21 2020.00

2.95

LME Cu 7994.25 -5.75 -0.07 7600.00

5.19

LME Lead 2191.00 -48.00 -2.14 2034.00

7.72

LME Nickel 17092.00 -458.00 -2.61 18650.00

-8.35

LME Tin 21531.00 -394.00 -1.80 19200.00

12.14

LME Zinc 2010.25 -19.75 -0.97 1845.00

8.96

SHFE Alu 15325.00 -5.00 -0.03 15845.00

-3.28

SHFE Cu* 57370.00 30.00 +0.05 55360.00

3.63

SHFE Zin 15350.00 65.00 +0.43 14795.00

3.75

** Benchmark month for COMEX copper

* 3rd contract month for SHFE AL, CU and ZN SHFE ZN began trading on 26/3/07