US copper futures closed at their lowest level since mid-June on Tuesday as the red metal's pull-back from last week's hurdle of $4 a lb intensified once key chart points were broken, dealers said. Copper for September delivery ended down 15.25 cents or nearly 4 percent at $3.6965 a lb on the New York Mercantile Exchange's COMEX division, its lowest level at a settlement since June 18.
The session range was from $3.6840 to $3.8610. Traders said sell-stop orders were triggered below the 100-day moving average at around $3.76 and the 50-day moving average at around $3.74. Final volumes on Monday totalled 18,395 lots. London Metal Exchange copper warehouse stocks rose 100 tonnes to 122,175 tonnes on Tuesday. COMEX copper stocks declined 175 short tons to 10,079 short tons on Monday.
The COMEX non-commercial net long position increased to 7,438 lots in the week ended July 1, compared with 6,618 lots the previous week. Open interest climbed to 111,367 contracts in the week from a prior 109,496 contracts. LME copper for delivery in three-months hit an intraday low at $8,150.25 a tonne, down 3.1 percent, before closing at $8,200 versus Monday's settlement at $8,412.