Comex copper ended with modest declines on Wednesday after remaining firm for most of the session, cushioned by dollar weakness, but volume was light and moves in both directions were undramatic, traders said.
Encouraging for some players was copper's ability to minimise losses despite unexpectedly gloomy readings for both durable goods and US housing orders.
"There is some spotty buying around. There was some buying late in the day, after copper prices came off," said one trader, who added that portfolio money has been gradually shifting into copper and out of other assets.
Benchmark July copper finished 0.25 cent lower at $1.2315 a lb, and traded in a range between $1.2145 and $1.2480. Spot May gained 0.05 cent to end at $1.2325. The rest closed 0.25 cent lower to 1.10 cent higher, though most contracts never traded.
Traders also said the lack of volume muted price moves in either direction as the market absorbed some of the recent losses that led to 3-1/2-month lows last week. Comex projected final volume at 13,000 contracts, a pickup from the 7,391 lots traded on Tuesday.
Open interest increased as well, gaining 1,808 on Tuesday to 68,371 lots. Despite the light trading volumes, brokers said, funds have been gradual buyers of copper, tentative in part for fear of getting whipsawed as was the case on numerous occasions over the past two months.
With fund portfolio managers' back in the fray, the dollar's prominence as a main influence on copper prices has been renewed, traders said.
The dollar, which edged lower after weaker-than-expected US economic data, offered a boost to copper prices. A softer dollar provides an advantage to overseas buyers of dollar-denominated assets like copper.
"There's generally more buying around. The funds are more buyers than otherwise, either short covering or going long. But, we've been around the same price all week. I think it's consolidating, before it tries to go higher," a trader said.
In an apparent brush-off of surprisingly weak US durable goods data for April, copper maintained higher levels even after the orders declines were reported. Orders for high-ticket items fell 2.9 percent after a whopping 5.7 percent increase in March.
Despite the big drop, analysts said, they thought April orders reflected a payback of huge gains from the previous two months, adding that gains in capital spending remain in place.
Copper traders also shrugged off sharp declines in US new home sales.
Home sales tumbled 11.8 percent in April, the biggest one-month percentage drop since January 1994. Sales slid to a 1.093 million annual rates, their slowest pace since November 2003, and well below forecasts.
One analyst said he thought the falling housing data gave some indication of the effect of rising mortgage rates. Another said, however, the severity of the decline overstated any worsening of fundamentals.
He predicted home sales would maintain a brisk pace over the near term. In London, London Metal Exchange three-month copper was $9 higher at $2,688 per tonne at Wednesday's evening kerb close.
On Wednesday's range ran from $2,612 to $2,710. Comex is a division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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