The price of copper rallied to a new eight-month high above $2.45 a lb in New York futures trade on Thursday, as record-high import levels into China, the world's top copper consumer, fed a dollar-induced-technical price breakout this week. Copper for July delivery jumped 7.80 cents, or 3.3 percent, to settle at $2.4450 a lb on the New York Mercantile Exchange's COMEX division.
Session range from $2.3475 to $2.4575, the highest level for a second-month position contract since October 14. COMEX estimated futures volume at 19,691 lots by 12 pm EDT (1600 GMT). Final futures volume on Wednesday hit 32,077 lots.