Copper fell over 1 percent on Tuesday, hit by Standard and Poor's recent downgrade warning for the eurozone and fears Chinese growth could slow further, limiting demand prospects from the world's top metals buyer. In New York, the key March COMEX contract fell by 4 cents to settle at $3.5755 per lb, after dealing between $3.5250 and $3.5830.
Futures volumes remained on the light side at the start of the week. A little more than 40,000 lots traded late in New York - a third below the 30-day norm, according to preliminary Thomson Reuters data.