Copper ended sharply lower on Wednesday as worries about Europe's debt situation prompted another round of long liquidation that erased nearly all of the previous session's "risk-on" rally. A day after copper posted its biggest one-day gain since February of last year, bullish momentum in the industrial metal waned after a split began to develop between some eurozone member countries pressing for a bigger haircut by bondholders.
In New York, the key December COMEX contract plunged 19.30 cents or 5.6 percent to settle at $3.2465 per lb, with after-hours losses taking it to a late low beneath $3.20. Volumes picked up alongside the late sales burst. Close to 64,000 lots traded in New York, more than third above the 30-day norm, according to Thomson Reuters preliminary data.