Copper prices edged down in Asia on Wednesday, but stayed within sight of the previous session's record high on speculation of a large short position held by a Chinese state agency.
High volatility and record price levels dented copper trade during Asian trading as investors were concerned about being caught by any drastic price move on the London Metal Exchange, traders said.
LME copper futures for delivery in three months were trading at $4,132/4,142 a tonne, down from London's on Tuesday close of $4,137. In London, copper rose as high as $4,174 on more fund- buying.
"Nothing is going on with all the rumours going around," said a senior LME trader in Hong Kong. "And any major move's happened in London these days."
Copper, used in construction and electric cables, jumped over $4,000 a tonne since last on Thursday on talk that a trader working for China's State Reserves Bureau may have taken a large short position betting that prices will fall on the LME.
But a senior SRB official said it had no evidence of the position, and that if it did exist, it would be on the trader's own account. Traders estimated that the size of the SRB's copper shorts on the LME at between 150,000 and 200,000 tonnes, or more than twice the size of the exchange's stocks.