Copper fell for a second day on Tuesday as a deal to rescue Greece and prevent a wider sovereign debt crisis hit a new roadblock and as softer Chinese data clouded prospects for demand from the top metal consumer. Metals bore the brunt of further risk aversion, with aluminium, zinc, nickel and lead sinking more than 4 percent as investors flocked to assets seen to be safer, such as the dollar, after Greece's shock decision to hold a referendum on its eurozone bailout.
In New York, the key December COMEX contract settled down 12.95 cents or nearly 3.6 percent at $3.5025 per lb, near the bottom of its $3.4620 to $3.6570 session range. Futures volumes stood above 58,000 lots late in New York, about 10 percent below their 30-day norm, according to preliminary Thomson Reuters data.