METALS-Copper falls after weak U.S. jobs report
* Copper near 8-month lows
* Chinese markets shut for a 2nd day of holidays
* Weak job gains cast shadow on U.S. economic outlook
LONDON, April 5 (Reuters) - Copper fell on Friday to within sight of the eight-month lows it hit on Thursday, after far weaker than expected U.S. jobs data spooked investors about the state of the world's largest economy.
A two-day holiday in top copper consumer China has also dampened demand for the metal.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was untraded in rings, but bid at $7,412 from the previous session's close of $7,440. Thursday's low of $7,331.25 a tonne was the weakest since August. Prices are down around 6 percent so far this year.
A sell-off that began in mid-February has continued into early April, with the majority of the complex now trading at multi-month lows, Barclays Capital said in a research note.
"Neither macro nor fundamental trends have offered any persuasive reasons to counteract this price trend during this time period," it said.
Concerns had been growing about the outlook for the U.S. economic recovery ahead of the key non-farm payrolls report, after weaker-than-expected data this week on manufacturing activity and private sector hiring.
Friday's data showed American employers hired at the slowest pace in nine months in March, a sign that Washington's austerity drive could be stealing momentum from the economy.
The economy added just 88,000 jobs last month and the jobless rate ticked a tenth of a point lower to 7.6 percent largely due to people dropping out of the work force, Labor Department data showed on Friday.
Analysts expect copper prices to start picking up in the current quarter, which is seasonally the strongest.
"As the second quarter gets underway, we should see prices start rallying. I think we will get back on track again, and we're staying faithful to the expectation that we will get a seasonal uptick," Societe Generale analyst Robin Bhar said.
Chinese demand has been recovering, but traders were reluctant to take positions, at least until Monday when Chinese markets reopen.
Tin, untraded in rings, was bid at $22,730 in rings from $22,750, zinc at $1,881 from $1,889 and lead was bid at $2,068 from $2,075. Aluminium was $1,874.5 in rings from $1,885, and nickel was at $16,005 from $16,100.