COMEX copper futures fell sharply Wednesday when an early rise failed to spark fresh buying and some players decided to grab quick profits from Tuesday's advance, traders said.
"What's going on today is a lot of nothing. The market was overbought yesterday. We opened up near the highs. They tried a little higher and nothing happened. Then they pushed it to the downside," said one COMEX floor broker.
One trader said support held around the low $1.2400s and believed it should continue to hold in the near term.
Benchmark December copper was down 1.70 cents at $1.2550 a lb, trading from $1.2410 to $1.2730.
Spot September tumbled 2.20 cents to $1.2510. Few back month contracts actually traded and those that did were down 1.90 to 2.55 cents.
COMEX copper volume was estimated at 3,000 lots by 10:00 am EDT (1400 GMT).