* Early aggressive trade subdued, arb narrowed * Data on U.S. GDP, consumer, home sales eyed * Shanghai copper stocks hit more than 7-year high (Adds Shanghai warehouse data; updates prices, comment) By Rujun Shen and Jacqueline Wong SHANGHAI, Feb 26 (Reuters) - London copper prices rebounded about 2 percent on Friday though the gain is seen limited as investors wait for a clearer picture on the pace and depth of global economic recovery. Copper prices on the London Metal Exchange fell about 2 percent in the previous session on a strong dollar and the latest signs that the U.S. economy was still struggling to recover. "There was some aggressive buying at the open in zinc and copper, in fact zinc has been trading more than copper so far. It's the golden godchild for Chinese speculators right now," said a senior LME dealer based in Sydney. Shanghai copper's premium over LME copper expanded to about 1,200 yuan earlier in the day, but narrowed to about 1,000 yuan at Shanghai's close, as trade subdued. Copper stocks in warehouses monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange soared 28 percent from before the week-long holiday to 149,478 tonnes, highest since late September 2002. "A lot of copper was moved from bonded warehouses to the exchange warehouses after the holiday," said Zhou Jie, an analyst at Shanghai CIFCO Futures. "February's copper imports will probably be quite big, as we've seen big premiums in Shanghai prices." Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange CMCU3 rose 2 percent to $7,140 a tonne by 0747 GMT, heading for a 3.9-percent decline from a week earlier. It touched $7,165 earlier in the day. Shanghai's benchmark third-month copper futures contract SCFc3 ended up 0.2 percent to 58,020 yuan, finishing the week up 2.9 percent. The most-active contract for June delivery SCFM0 was up 0.3 percent at 58,190 yuan a tonne. LME zinc CMZN3 hit $2,192 a tonne earlier, before easing to $2,184.5 and Shanghai zinc was little changed at 18,290 yuan. Investors are focused on data and policy changes for clues to the health of the economy. "Price movement has little to do with fundamentals these days, and is dominated by speculators' sentiment," said Guo Yong, an analyst at Jinrui Futures. After Thursday's disappointing jobless claims and durable goods orders data, the U.S. is scheduled to release a batch of indicators later in the day, including fourth-quarter economic growth, February consumer sentiment and existing home sales for January. [ID:nN2597849] "The seasonal rally may not be very visible this year, after copper prices made huge gains last year," said a trader based in eastern China's Zhejiang Province. "Copper is bound to experience some consolidation." Base metals prices at 0747 GMT Metal Last Change Pct Move End 2009 YTD pct chg LME Cu 7140.00 141.00 +2.01 7375.00 -3.19 SHFE Cu* 58020.00 130.00 +0.22 59900.00 -3.14 LME Alum 2099.00 13.00 +0.62 2230.00 -5.87 SHFE Alum* 16730.00 -110.00 -0.65 17160.00 -2.51 COMEX Cu** 322.50 3.25 +1.02 332.75 -3.08 LME Zinc 2184.50 68.50 +3.24 2560.00 -14.67 SHFE Zinc 18290.00 15.00 +0.08 21195.00 -13.71 LME Nickel 20649.00 299.00 +1.47 18525.00 11.47 LME Lead 2183.00 33.00 +1.53 2432.00 -10.24 LME Tin 16800.00 100.00 +0.60 16950.00 -0.88 LME/Shanghai arb^ -994 Dollar/yuan 6.8263 \ 6.8266 ** 1st contract month for COMEX copper * 3rd contact month for SHFE aluminium, copper and zinc ^ LME 3-m copper in yuan, including 17 pct VAT, minus SHFE third month (Editing by Ed Lane)

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