Copper fell for a second straight day on Wednesday as investors doubted whether an EU summit at the end of the week will generate a comprehensive deal to solve the eurozone's lingering debt crisis. In New York, the key March COMEX contract fell 1.95 cents to settle at $3.5560 per lb, after dealing between $3.5215 and $3.6145. Futures volumes stood at nearly 40,000 lots in late New York business, about a third below the 30-day norm, according to preliminary Thomson Reuters data.
Copper was up about 1 percent earlier in the session as investors grew optimistic for an interest rate cut on Thursday from the European Central Bank (ECB), which would boost liquidity in the banking sector and calm markets. On the supply side, a 12.4 percent increase in the fees Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold will pay smelters in 2012 to process its ore may pave the way for higher benchmark prices next year by eroding the bargaining power of other global miners, a CRU consultant said Wednesday.
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