Comex copper futures settled higher on Friday, rebounding from earlier weakness as local and trade short-covering lifted prices later in the day with a weak dollar lending support, brokers said. "I think we went down on the currencies yesterday and we had a good bounce back in the euro today, so maybe that's what triggered the higher settlement," said one. "I think over $1.40 may be difficult for this market. I can see us consolidating at $1.35-$1.40 for a while," he added.
The US dollar on Thursday rose from a record low against the euro as fears of dollar-buying intervention by central banks and a sharp decline in oil prices convinced traders to buy dollars.
Most-active March copper on the New York Mercantile Exchange's Comex division finished the day up 1.65 cents at $1.3915 a lb, near the higher end of its $1.3610-$1.3930 a lb trading range.
Spot December futures edged 0.20 cent lower to end at $1.4350 a lb.
Comex estimated final copper volume reached 14,000 lots, compared with Thursday's official count of 14,316 lots.
Copper futures opened lower on the day as follow-through technical selling from Thursday hit prices but reversed and clawed higher on the dollar's slide following a soft US November jobs report.
The US Labour Department reported a surprisingly soft 112,000 new US jobs were created in November, versus economists' forecasts for 180,000 new jobs.
A weaker US dollar makes dollar-denominated assets like copper more attractive for overseas investors.
Fundamentally, analysts cited increased demand, lower crude oil prices, and dwindling warehouse stocks as supportive factors in the market.