COMEX copper futures were down early Tuesday in line with the drop in London where some follow-through selling pressured prices, traders said. Copper added to losses after US economic data painted a mixed picture on the housing and manufacturing sectors. At the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, benchmark March copper slipped 1.20 cents to $1.4180 per lb, in a range between $1.41 and $1.4360.
Spot January was down 0.80 cent at $1.4675 and the rest fell 0.05 to 1.40 cents. COMEX estimated 9:00 am EST (1400 GMT) volume at 4,000 lots.
Copper fell further after a mixed batch of US economic data, but most players paused to decipher the longer-term implications for metal demand.
-Reuters