Copper extended losses into a fifth day on Thursday, setting itself up for its biggest weekly loss in seven weeks, as demand prospects dimmed from the deepening debt crisis in Europe. Losses piled up across the broader industrial metals complex, with notable losers tin and lead falling as much as 6 percent at one point.
But the downside push slowed and prices clawed back by the end of the day, alongside firmer equities and the euro, as Italian bond yields eased from levels seen as unsustainable, prompting investors to take on some risk. In New York, the key December COMEX contract shed 6.70 cents, or 2 percent, to settle at $3.3740, after moving between $3.3180 and $3.4290. Futures volumes remained relatively light, with about 53,000 lots traded late in New York - more than 13 percent below the 30-day norm, according to preliminary Thomson Reuters data.