COMEX copper futures opened higher in moderate business early on Friday, as the market extended a rebound from Wednesday, but dealers cautioned the weak technical picture should outweigh the fundamentals short-term.
By 10:23 am EDT (1423 GMT), copper for July delivery climbed 7.50 cents, or 2.3 percent, at $3.29 a lb on the New York Mercantile Exchange's (NYMEX) COMEX division, just off the upper end of its early $3.21-$3.3010 trading band.
Technicians pegged initial support in July copper at the psychological $3.00 a lb level, followed by $2.95, and then on down to $2.80. Spot June rose 1.10 cents to $3.32 a lb, well off the all-time COMEX record for spot copper at $4.16, set on May 11. COMEX copper volume at 9 am was estimated at only 3,000 lots.