COMEX copper futures on Tuesday morning extended gains from Monday's late bout of short-covering but ran into technical resistance as follow-through buying was patchy, floor traders said.
Prices were seen correcting up after a previous sell-off to three-month lows fizzled out and broker buying came in to lift COMEX July from a brief test of the $1.15 a lb support area.
"We gapped higher, but now we're running into resistance inside the gap area from $1.1820 to $119.05," said a COMEX copper trader.
Benchmark July copper climbed 1.45 cents to stand at $1.1820 a lb at 10:01 am, moving between $1.1650 to $1.1920.
Floor sources peg first support at $1.15 to $1.10.
In other months, spot May copper rose 1.65 cents to $1.1840, while the rest went up 1.55 to 2.40 cents.