US copper futures ended a touch lower on Friday, consolidating after a 4 percent gain on the week brought on by investor optimism about the economy. Copper for September delivery settled down 0.20 cent, or 0.08 percent, at $2.5220 a lb on the New York Mercantile Exchange's COMEX division.
Range ran from $2.4895 to $2.5440, which marked a new high dating back to October 7. Resistance eyed at $2.5930 and $2.6060 - chartists. COMEX's estimated futures volume at final trade was 14,873 lots. On Thursday, the exchange did a total business of 27,309 lots on an open interest at 120,765, exchange data showed. Traders had initially expected investors to take substantial profit from the market's rally to nine-month highs this week.
That did not materialise when the dollar turned weak again on Friday, providing fresh support to prices. Improved euro zone services and manufacturing data, as well as a better-than-expected German sentiment survey which propped up global stock markets, bolstered sentiment further, traders said. But a weaker US consumer confidence for late July, as indicated by a Reuters-University of Michigan consumer survey, tempered gains and set the stage for a mild consolidation.
"Market tone is very positive right now for third quarter GDP to be positive and that's also giving a bullish tilt," said Michael Maniatis, market strategist at Chicago's LaSalle Futures Group. LME warehouse stocks of copper up 2,225 tonnes to stand at 273,950 tonnes on Thursday. COMEX copper stocks slip 364 short tons to 56,971 short tons as of Wednesday.
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