In New York, the May COMEX contract shed 1.05 cents to settle at $3.6395 per lb on Wednesday after dealing from a 3-month trough at $3.6305 to $3.6730. COMEX copper volume was heavy for a second straight session. More than 94,000 lots traded in late New York business, nearly two-thirds above the 30-day norm.
Volume set a record of 127,276 contracts on Tuesday, surpassing the prior one of 117,165 contracts on February 21. "The worry is that China's slowdown might be slightly sharper than people expected," said analyst David Wilson of Citi. "But we see some reasonable consumer buying coming in at lower levels as has been the pattern through this year, as consumers who didn't lock in their purchases earlier come into the market."