In New York, the May COMEX contract eased 0.75 cent to settle at $3.88 per lb, after dealing between $3.8550 and $3.9040 on Tuesday. About 53,600 lots traded in late New York business, down more than 20 percent from the 30-day average, according to preliminary Thomson Reuters data.
In February, prices of the metal hit their highest levels in nearly five months at $8,765 per tonne and $3.9950 per lb, but have since failed to break through that level. "I don't expect copper to break out of the $8,200-$8,765 range. Before you see a pick up, you need to see premiums rising in China, you need Chinese players to offloads the extra inventories and you need a pick up in consumption," said Andrey Kryuchenkov, an analyst at VTB.