In New York, the July COMEX contract shed 3.65 cents or 1 percent to settle at $3.5175 per lb, after dealing from a four-month trough at $3.5005 to $3.5585. A day after COMEX copper posted its sharpest one-day decline in a month, trading volumes were light. Preliminary Thomson Reuters data showed close to 61,000 lots traded in late New York business - more than 20 percent below the 30-day average.
Greek politicians again failed to agree on a new government, nine days after an inconclusive election. After Greece's president said the country will hold new elections, copper and other risk assets slumped and investors fled to the safety of the dollar. "There's a lot of mystery and mystique in Europe, and the markets are not able to gather any upside momentum," LOGIC Advisors' O'Neill said.