(Adds analyst comment, updates prices and changes dateline to

LONDON)

By Eric Onstad

LONDON, April 25 (Reuters) - Copper prices extended

gains on Thursday as funds chased the market higher after a

takeover bid by BHP for Anglo American, which analysts said was

focused on copper.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange

(LME) gained 1.3% to $9,901.50 a metric ton by 1010 GMT, moving

closer to the $9,988 two-year peak touched on Monday.

BHP Group ( BHP ) bid $38.8 billion for Anglo American

on Thursday, seeking to forge the world's biggest copper

miner.

"The BHP news is most certainly giving some additional

attention to copper. If BHP wants copper, then I'm sure traders

and investors want it as well," said Ole Hansen, head of

commodity strategy at Saxo Bank in Copenhagen.

"We're again within striking distance of $10,000, the

magical level that traders will be chasing in a market that has

rallied perhaps a bit too strongly compared with what the

underlying fundamentals are justifying."

LME copper has gained 11% this month and about 15% this

year.

In China, the Yangshan premium assessed by SMM has dropped to zero for the first time on record, indicating

weak appetite to import copper into China, the world's biggest

metals consumer.

The most traded June copper contract on the Shanghai Futures

Exchange (SHFE) closed 1.9% up at 80,160 yuan

($11,061.13) a ton.

"Fund buying was still relentless during the U.S. session

... and after a slightly weaker opening, Asian funds seem to be

follow through, too, on this wave of buying," one trader said.

Also supporting the market was a weaker dollar,

making commodities priced in the U.S. currency more expensive

for buyers using other currencies.

Goldman Sachs analysts forecast the global refined copper

market is likely to show a deficit of 428,000 tons in 2024 and

they expect copper prices in London to hit $12,000 a ton within

the next 12 months.

LME aluminium was little changed at $2,604 a ton and

nickel was also flat at $18,950 while zinc

climbed 1.6% to $2,850, lead was up 0.4% at $2,204.50

and tin jumped 1.8% to $32,400.

For the top stories in metals, click

($1 = 7.2468 yuan)

(Reporting by Eric Onstad

Additional reporting by Mai Nguyen in Hanoi

Editing by David Goodman

)