In New York, the key December COMEX contract settled up 1.95 cents at $3.4020 per lb, near the upper end of its $3.3310 to $3.4405 session range, but below its 50-day moving average and a weeks-long ascending triangle formation. "We are breaking through the bottom end of it ... double-bottoming near the November 10 low at $3.3180," said Charles Nedoss, senior account manager and metals analyst with Olympus Futures in Chicago.
"That is way under today's opening range ... that's a bearish sign." Futures volumes continued to run more thinly than usual this week, with close to 45,000 lots traded as of late Friday in New York, down more than 20 percent from the 30-day norm, according to preliminary Thomson Reuters data.
Copper initially rose in line with the euro after news that the European Central Bank will lend to the International Monetary Fund to bail out bigger eurozone economies. But the gains rolled back as the session wore on, with persistent fears about Europe and its uncertain impact on the global economy forcing investors to side with caution and reduce exposure in risk assets, such as metals. "The fear is that what is still a regional crisis will morph into a global crisis of confidence," Robin Bhar, analyst at Credit Agricole, said.