US copper futures ended down on Wednesday, as a US stock market sell-off sparked further profit-taking in the red metal, but strong fundamentals buoyed copper and it finished well off session lows, analysts said.
A 15-cent slide from Monday's overnight peak at $3.50 a lb. and tight underlying fundamentals should be enough to spark another wave of upside interest, they added. "It was kind of surprising given the pretty significantly dwindling of stocks out of London. That's what has really been pushing the market higher over the last couple of weeks," said Zach Oman, an analyst with Wisdom Financial.
"I would anticipate that this a pretty decent pull-back to get long, especially when you have supply issues and significant mining strikes potentially coming around the corner," he added.
Copper for July delivery ended down 3.75 cents to $3.4040 a lb on the New York Mercantile Exchange's Comex division, after dealing in a session range between $3.3565 and $3.4550.
Traders said the $3.50 level, basis July copper, would be an important test for the market, technically and mentally. A failure to breach that level would probably cause more frustrated longs to liquidate.
Final copper futures volumes reached 16,424 lots, compared with 16,252 lots on Tuesday. As of Tuesday, June 5, open interest in Comex copper futures eased 86 lots to 81,226 contracts. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid over 1 percent at one point on Wednesday, pressuring red metal prices. "On days like February 27 and to a smaller degree, today, everything correlates.
It was a good example today where it (copper) just gets pulled down by a major market, but technically and fundamentally, it's so strong that we were able to come back," said one dealer. London Metal Exchange (LME) copper warehouse stocks fell 250 tonnes to 123,050 tonnes on Wednesday, while Comex stocks declined 303 short tons to 26,680 short tons on Tuesday. The trade continued to monitor potential strikes in Mexico and Chile, which could further strain the supply-side of the market.
In Mexico, workers threatened a work stoppage at nine mines and processing plants owned by Group Mexico, including its giant Cannier copper mine. Meanwhile, Group Mexico will produce 190,000 tonnes of copper at its new 'El Arco' mine in northern Mexico starting in 2012, the company said on Wednesday.
Also, workers at Collahuasi, one of Chile's largest copper mines, were upset over a new contract proposal from the miner and said they would refuse to negotiate unless it was improved. The Collahuasi mine produce between 440,000 and 450,000 tonnes of copper per year in cathodes and contained in concentrates. LME copper for delivery in three months settled at $7,420 a tonne, down $120 from Tuesday's close.
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