US copper futures ended lower on Monday but up from their lowest levels in more than five weeks as a stronger tone in equities helped stem early pressure from rising inventories and slowing Chinese demand. Copper for December delivery shed 1.35 cents to close at $2.7270 a lb on the New York Mercantile Exchange's COMEX division.
Range from $2.7435 to $2.6625 lowest level since August 19. On technical charts, copper sitting on a triple/quadruple top neckline at $2.64. COMEX estimated futures volume at a thin 14,221 lots by 1 pm EDT (1700 GMT) due to the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur. Final volume on Friday hit 22,461 lots.
COMEX copper warehouse stocks up 92 short tons, bringing total levels to 53,842 short tons as of Friday. Net non-commercial short position in copper futures up at 3,537 lots in week ended September 22, from 2,333 lots the previous week. Net long position held by money managers shrank to 247 lots versus 1,068 lots in the week of September 15.