Copper slumped to a two-week low Wednesday as the dollar rallied and the cost of Italian bonds soared to dangerously high levels, underscoring weaker global growth prospects and fears of curbed metals demand. In New York, the key December COMEX contract shed 9.20 cents, or 2.6 percent, to settle at $3.4410 per lb, after dealing from its own two-week low at $3.4215 to $3.60.
Selling momentum enveloped the wider industrials complex, dragging zinc down over 3 percent, lead over 2 percent, tin nearly 1 percent and nickel 3.5 percent. Copper extended losses into a fourth straight day, falling alongside a 2 percent plunge in equities, as investors feared Italy, the eurozone's third largest economy, could be facing a debt crisis similar to that of Greece.
Losses held in after-hours business after eurozone officials said there were no plans for a financial rescue of Italy. Futures volumes picked up a bit as the selling gripped the market. More than 58,000 lots exchanged hands late in New York, closer in line with the 30-day norm, and above thinner trading volumes earlier this week, according to Thomson Reuters preliminary data.
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