LONDON - Copper and aluminium prices rose on Friday on hopes that demand will pick up in China on the back of new efforts to boost its troubled property sector and the wider economy.

Gains were capped, however, and some metals were in the red owing to nervousness over rising coronavirus cases in top metals consumer China and ahead of closely watched U.S. jobs data.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) added 0.7% to $8,436 a tonne by 1100 GMT while aluminium was up 0.6% at $2,270.

"There's a fairly widespread view that commodities will rally by the end of the year, but the backdrop of demand being pretty weak at the moment makes things tricky," said Dan Smith, head of research at Amalgamated Metals Trading.

"For the short term we remain bearish because there's a lot of market choppiness we need to get through first."

Copper hit its highest in nearly six months in mid-December on a weaker dollar but touched a two-month low on Wednesday amid worries about a potential global recession.

Economists and analysts believe that policymakers in China will take more steps to stimulate property demand this year, as part of Beijing's overall goal to bolster its $17 trillion economy after a sharp COVID-induced downturn.

The most-traded February copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose 1.8% to 65,240 yuan ($9,508.82) a tonne.

Copper also gained support from news that Chile, the world's biggest copper producer, registered a 6.9% production fall in November to 449,000 tonnes.

Investors were awaiting U.S. jobs data due at 1330 GMT, which is likely to show the U.S. economy maintained a solid pace of job and wage growth in December.

Meanwhile, SHFE nickel extended losses, slumping by 6.1% to 210,200 yuan for its lowest since Dec. 7.

Traders said the drop was partly attributable to rising supply expectations after China's Tsingshan Group, the world's largest nickel producer, started its new nickel project.

LME nickel tumbled by 6.8% on Thursday but rebounded slightly on Friday, adding 0.8% to $27,955.

Among other metals, LME zinc shed 0.7% to $2,984 a tonne and lead lost 1.2% to $2,190.50, but tin added 0.7% at $25,025.

($1 = 6.8610 Chinese yuan)

(Reporting by Eric Onstad Additionial reporting by Siyi Liu and Dominique Patton in Beijing Editing by David Goodman)