US copper futures rose modestly early Tuesday, though activity was subdued and likely to stay that way for the session after a trader collapsed on the exchange floor, halting trading for about 40 minutes. Floor brokers said they thought the mood on the copper floor would remain somber, although business also had been light in London and Asian markets overnight. "Somebody up here had a stroke, so they closed the market for about an hour. It just reopened and nothing's going on. Prices haven't moved much," said one floor trader.
"There's not too much activity. It happened in the copper pit. So, I doubt the movement in copper's going to be too severe today," said another trader, who said the man had suffered a heart attack.
At the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, benchmark July copper was up just 0.35 cent at $1.45 a lb., in a range from $1.4445 to $1.4525 a lb.
Spot May copper rose 0.65 cent to $1.4830 a lb. The rest were up 0.35 to 0.55 cent in scattered trade.
Floor sources said an independent local copper trader collapsed at about 8:15 am, about 10 minutes into Tuesday's copper trading session.
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