US MIDDAY: copper up

In New York, the May COMEX contract rose 1.50 cents to settle at $3.8455 per lb, after dealing between $3.8275 and $3.87. Volumes stood around 41,300 lots in late New York business, down by more than 40 percent from the 30-day norm, according to preliminary Thomson Reuters data.
Copper has risen more than 11 percent this year, but prices have struggled to garner enough upside momentum to break out of the upper end of a months-long range, roughly between $8,100 a tonne ($3.70/lb) and $8,800 ($4/lb), as Chinese demand remained in question.