But a revival of metal demand would be limited by the country's economic slowdown, which has curbed the local industry's production rates and imports, the traders said.

"We have recently seen some spot purchasing deals, backed by the won's strong recovery," said a trader with a major trading firm.

The trader said the recovery in demand was also helped by local financial institutions' efforts of financing import deals to help the local export industry.

Demand from the local aluminium rolling industry was relatively better due to rising exports rather than demand of the extrusion industry, hit by the slowing construction and automobile sectors, he said.

Recent weakness in metal prices on the London Metal Exchange (LME), together with the won's recovery, has made local importers seekmetals for spot delivery as prices were more attractive than before, traders said.

The country's Supply Administration (SAROK) said on Monday it had asked suppliers at home and abroad for offers to buy 10,000 tonnes of primary aluminium ingot on July 20.

The purchase would be made to replenish SAROK'S Stockpile as it had sold aluminium to local firms to help ease their shortage of the metal, said Kang Seung-hyun, deputy director of SAROK's stockpile division.

Kang said it would seek high grade aluminium ingots of the London Metal Exchange (LME) registered brand, except that of Russian, Chinese, Egyptian, Indonesian and Indian origin.

The government procurement body's aluminium sales were an average of 5,000 tonnes a month in the first half of this year and SAROK currently has 37,000 tonnes of aluminium in stocks as of the end of last week, he said.

In the local copper market, a trader with LG Cable and Machinery Ltd said local cable makers were still trying to boost their exports of copper rods toChina to tide over the economic slump.

But the trader said the won's rise against the dollar has sparked concerns the currency's appreciation could dampen export earnings as the local metal industry has tried to boost exports to make up for sluggish local consumption.

The won was trading at 1,286 per dollar at 0155 GMT on Thursday after hitting an intra-year high of 1,265, against Wednesday's close at 1,282.

The won's recovery since hitting a record low of 1,995 in late December has been underpinned by accumulating current account surpluses and increasing foreign exchange reserves.

Recently the market was also flooded with heavy dollar inflows as payments on the sale of assets or stakes by local companies in the process of restructuring, bank dealers said.

South Korea has told its highly indebted corporations to slash debt and recapitalise, and companies have been selling their assets or business lines to foreigners to secure funds to finance restructuring. Meanwhile, traders said local metalindustry has largely been unaffected by recent labour unrest, which has flared to protest the country's economic restructuring.

The Korean Metal Workers Federation called a two-day strike and major work sites left idle from early Tuesday include Daewoo Heavy Industries Co, Korea Heavy Industries and Construction Corp, Hyundai Motor Co, unlisted Daewoo Motor Co and many car parts makers.

Most workers returned to work on Thursday morning.