US copper futures opened lower Tuesday on some light speculative profit-taking and technical selling following the market's rise to 16-year highs a day before, traders said. At the New York Mercantile Exchange's COMEX division, copper for July delivery was off 0.20 cent at $1.5620 a lb, after dealing in an early $1.5540-$1.5790 band. July copper hit a fresh 16-year peak at $1.58 a lb in Sunday's overnight session.
June COMEX copper was trading down 0.45 cent at $1.6020 per lb, moving from $1.60 to $1.62, matching its highest level hit since late 1988 on Friday. COMEX estimated 9 am (1300 GMT) copper volume stood at 6,000 lots.