US copper futures opened down but steadied at modestly lower levels Friday as an end to strikes at two massive Mexican copper mines seemed to be offset by a 29 percent drop in Shanghai copper stocks, sources said.
James Quinn, commodity commentator with A.G. Edwards & Sons, Inc, said the Shanghai decline was certainly behind the early strength in copper. "I think we're going to play off that today," he said
BY 10:20 am EST (1520 GMT), copper for May delivery was 0.50 cent easier at $2.2625 a lb on the New York Mercantile Exchange's COMEX division, dealing between $2.2590 and $2.28, its highest level since February 10.
Spot March was down 0.35 cent at $2.2720 a lb, near the lower end of its $2.2690 and $2.2850 trading band. The all-time high for spot copper was $2.34 a lb. on February 6. COMEX copper volume at 9:00 am EST was estimated at only 2,000 lots.