Copper futures rose modestly in early Wednesday trade, gaining some lift from a weaker dollar, but traders said exceptionally light volume should hold prices in a narrow band. "Very quiet. We opened a little bit lower, tested the lows. But the euro's up, and now that's helping. There's really nothing going on. A couple of locals here just ran over to trade gold," said one floor broker.
At the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, benchmark March copper was up 0.40 cent at $1.4330 per lb., in a range between $1.4120 and $1.4350.
Spot January was 0.25 cent higher at $1.4760 and the rest were mostly untraded. A few gained 0.05 to 0.45 cent. COMEX estimated 9 am volume at 3,000 lots.