In New York, the May COMEX contract rose 2.45 cents to settle at $3.7915 per lb on Thursday, after dealing between $3.7650 and $3.8310. Traders and analysts continued to cite key technical support near $3.70, where the 55-day moving average, the February low and a longer-term trend line all meet.
Trading volumes was near 50,000 lots in late New York business, a third below the 30-day norm, according to preliminary Thomson Reuters data.