US copper futures bounced to a firmer finish on Friday as investors took their cues from a stronger tone on Wall Street and covered their short, or bearish, positions after technical support held, traders said. Copper for December delivery rose 9.40 cents, or 4.5 percent, to settle at $2.1795 a lb on the New York Mercantile Exchange's COMEX division. The session range ran from $2.0420 to $2.2345.
Copper's failure to break below the Thursday low at $2.0405 triggers some end-of-week short-covering - COMEX dealer. Copper up in a counter-trend bounce - Ralph Preston, futures analyst with HeritageWestFutures.com in San Diego, California. Initial support pegged at $2.04, followed by the psychological $2.00 level. Resistance eyed at the weekly high of $2.5295.
Spot October ended up 8.20 cents at $2.1810 a lb. COMEX estimated futures volume at 13,031 lots by 1 pm EDT (1700 GM). Final volumes on Thursday totalled 18,015 lots. Open interest climbed 1,330 lots to 83,191 contracts open as of October 16. Copper up in sympathy with US equities, which rose on the back of reassuring quarterly results from tech bellwether Google Inc and as energy stocks tracked the higher price of crude oil.
Copper's strength bucks bearish economic data showing US new home construction crashed to a 17-1/2 year low in September and US consumer confidence suffered its steepest monthly drop on record in October, both reinforcing fears of recession. The Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers said its index of confidence plummeted to 57.5 in October from 70.3 in September.
China's imports of unwrought copper and copper alloy rose 7.1 percent on the year in September. Exports of unwrought aluminum and aluminum alloy jumped 47.3 percent on the year in the same month. Soaring financing costs and volatile copper prices seen forcing some Chinese companies to limit their imports, providing additional pressure on markets.
Copper inventories in warehouses monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose 35 percent to 34,790 tonnes in the week ended Thursday, compared with 25,681 tonnes the previous week. London Metal Exchange (LME) copper warehouse stocks fell by 575 tonnes to 211,450 tonnes on Friday. COMEX copper stocks were off 420 short tons at 8,342 short tons as of Thursday.
LME copper for three months delivery rallied as much as 6.4 percent to an early-session high of $4,960 a tonne, after dropping more than 5 percent to a 33-month low at $4,545 during the previous session. It closed at $4,806, up $146 from Thursday's closing level.