COMEX copper fell sharply Wednesday morning on a bout of fund selling as the dollar climbed to multi-week highs against the euro, but subsequently halved its losses after release of healthy US orders data, traders said.
"There was selling early as part of the natural progression of things. We hit a few stops here. We went straight down at the open, bounced around and then went back up. We've been trading with the euro and against the dollar so the stronger dollar is part of it. Right now there's not much going on, though. Its pretty quiet," said one copper trader.
Active September copper was off 0.70 cent at $1.2960 a lb on the New York Mercantile Exchanges COMEX division, trading $1.2750 to $1.3040. On Monday, copper ran up to $1.3250 to mark its highest since April 2. While its stay at the peak was fleeting, copper was seen by some traders attempting points beyond that high after a consolidation spell.
Spot August was down 1.90 cents at $1.2870. Next most-active December lost 0.80 cent to $1.2660. COMEX estimated 1000 am EDT (1500 GMT) volume at 4,000 lots.