Copper slipped on Friday as demand prospects dimmed and new doubts arose about Europe's bailout package ahead of a crucial confidence vote in debt-ridden Greece. A mixed US job report failed to offset the gloom coming from Europe.
Copper lost ground with other risk asset markets after German Chancellor Angela Merkel said few countries in the Group of 20 leading economies had committed to the eurozone rescue fund. For the week, copper lost nearly 4 percent of its value as investors sided with caution in reaction to the headlines out of Europe that failed to provide any clarity to the region's debt troubles.
"You still have all of this back and forth uncertainty about Greece ... they just can't seem to make up their mind," said Matthew Zeman, head of trading with Kingsview Financial in Chicago. In New York, the key December COMEX contract shed 2.40 cents to settle at $3.5645 per lb, after moving between $3.5445 and $3.6535. Volumes slowed to a crawl on the last trading day of the week. A little more than 41,000 lots traded late in New York, down more than 35 percent from the 30-day norm, according to preliminary Thomson Reuters data.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.