Copper bounced from a one-week low to end up on Tuesday, as supportive technicals and a rise in equities helped the red metal snap a three-day losing streak, albeit in ongoing thin trading. Aluminium rose to a 2-1/2-year high as further turmoil in the Middle East fuelled expectations of rising costs for the power-intensive metal.
COMEX copper failed to sustain its late gains, easing 0.35 cent to settle at $4.3465 per lb, after running into some technical through its 20-day moving average at $4.3269. Trading volume remained sluggish, with around 31,700 lots traded by 1:40 p.m. EDT (1840 GMT), nearly 40 percent below the 30-day norm, Thomson Reuters preliminary data showed.