Copper prices tumbled nearly 7 percent on Thursday, the biggest one-day collapse in four weeks, on fears of a double-dip recession and growing doubts that Europe will get a handle on its debt crisis.
"Copper tends to lead other markets. If copper prices are starting to begin another leg lower now - nearly 10 percent in just two days - that's not just a blip on the radar ... it is indicative of investors' concern about the global economy," said Adam Sarhan, chief executive of New York-based Sarhan Capital.
In New York, the key December COMEX contract dropped 20.05 cents or 6.2 percent to settle at $3.0575, close to the bottom end of its $3.2350 to $3.0310 session range. Volumes perked up Thursday as the selling intensified. Close to 64,000 lots traded in New York, nearly 12 percent above the 30-day average, according to Thomson Reuters preliminary data. Copper extended a reversal from Monday's three-week high near $3.50 in New York and $7,660 in London, leaving both markets vulnerable for a retest of their 2011 lows, at $2.99 and $6,635, respectively.
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