NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--December copper futures are expected to open floor trading around 4 cents higher Friday, based on electronic activity ahead of the pit session on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. In overnight activity, base metals on the London Metal Exchange extended the week's gains, with copper hitting a new high since September 2008 and zinc a new high since May 2008 as market players attributed the rise to dollar weakness and technical fund buying rather than fundamentals. Recently in other markets that have the potential to impact metals in the short term, the euro was near steady at $1.5034 in screen trading ahead of the pit open and the December S&P 500 futures were up 1.2 points. December crude was up 11 cents in overnight activity. U.S. economic reports on Friday include existing home sales at 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) with total sales expected up 5.5% at 5.38 million In New York Thursday, copper futures settled lower on pressure from a stronger U.S. dollar and weaker crude oil prices. December copper fell 3.8 cents to settle at $2.9980. Inventories of copper stored in London Metal Exchange warehouses rose 3,000 metric tons Friday, leaving them at 367,075. The most recent Comex inventory data, released late Thursday afternoon, were up 289 short tons at 58,374 short tons. Once-a-week data released on Fridays by the Shanghai Futures Exchange showed a weekly decline of 4,241 metric tons to 95,976.

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