The FINANCIAL — Copper posted its third consecutive weekly loss on Friday, reflecting an uneasy tone in global equities and mounting fears that the debt crisis in Europe could spread and crimp demand for industrial metals.
Copper prices managed to stabilise in after-hours business as Wall Street tacked on some late gains and the dollar eased.
However, a bearish breakdown below two key lines of technical support this week could keep the pressure on in the days ahead, especially as Europe remains in the headlines and copper's robust fundamentals continue to take a backseat.
London Metal Exchange benchmark copper eased $20 to end at $7,525 a tonne.After the close, prices pushed back into positive territory, above $7,550, as US equity markets held on to gains.
In New York, the key December Comex contract settled up 1.95 cents at $3.4020 per pound, 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.Futures volumes continued to run more thinly than usual last week, with close to 45,000 lots traded as of late on Friday in New York, down more than 20 per cent 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.
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