Copper in New York crept up early on Friday with equities to end less than a penny higher from the previous session. In New York, the key September COMEX contract eked out a 0.35-cent gain to settle at $4.0120 per lb, supported by a firmer tone in equity markets and mildly encouraging retail sales in July, which helped to offset the weak consumer sentiment data.
"Any optimism is premature. We are not out of the woods yet, the economic path from now on is unclear," said Eugen Weinberg, commodities analyst at Commerzbank.