Copper ended down for a third consecutive day on Wednesday, reacting to a firmer dollar and calls for more inflation-fighting controls in top consumer China. COMEX May copper tumbled 8.90 cents, or 2 percent, to settle at $4.2945 per lb, near the lower half of its $4.2865 to $4.4070 session range. Total open interest for COMEX copper futures rose to a one-month high on April 11, exchange data showed Wednesday.
COMEX trading volumes remained brisk, with more than 66,400 lots traded by 2:46 pm EDT (1846 GMT), or close to two-thirds above the 30-day norm, according to Thomson Reuters preliminary data.