US copper futures extended their recent gains early on Thursday, hitting new records in early business, with a firmer precious metals market and some end-of-the-quarter fund buying underpinning the red metal, sources said.
"We have stronger industrial markets, with both energy and the silver market doing better, so we're kind of getting caught up in that," said James Quinn, commodity commentator with A.G. Edwards.
By 10:20 am EST (1520 GMT), benchmark May copper was trading 3.25 cents firmer at $2.4710 lb. on the New York Mercantile Exchange's COMEX division, a shade below a new life-of-contract peak at $2.4720. April, the new spot contract, gained 3.15 cents to a new contract high at $2.4880 a lb.
On Wednesday, COMEX copper set an all-time record at $2.5235 a lb. on a spot continuation basis. Thursday volume at 9 am was estimated at 2,000 lots.
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