US copper futures opened lower in quiet dealings on Thursday, as traders took their cue from softer overseas markets and booked some profits after the market's rally to a fresh 16-year peak earlier in the week, floor sources said. "The market is sitting down about 150 points in very light volume. London copper is lower this morning, and I think that selling carried over to us this morning," said one.
At the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, benchmark May copper was off 2.05 cents at $1.4830 a lb., just off the bottom of its early $1.48-$1.5080 trading band.
"I think the market got overdone yesterday and now guys are just pocketing some of those gains," said one trader.