Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange, untraded at the close, was last bid at $8,384 per tonne from Tuesday's close of $8,360. It earlier hit its highest since Sept. 19 at $8,455.25. Three major US manufacturers reported better-than-expected profit and stuck to their forecasts of earnings growth this year, with solid emerging market demand and a modest US recovery offsetting weakness in Europe. And while US pending home sales fell, the reports did not change perceptions that a nascent recovery is under way in the country's housing market. "Most of the moves over the last couple of weeks have been purely technical," said Citi analyst David Wilson. "Most hedge funds are sitting out not wanting to do anything." The euro fell from session highs against the dollar as worries the European Central Bank would need to take losses on its Greek bond holdings outweighed a strong German business sentiment survey. Gains in the dollar usually pressures dollar-denominated commodities by making them more expensive for consumers using other currencies. "Frustration is growing because an agreement is yet to be reached about Greece's debt talks," said Andrey Kryuchenkov, analyst at VTB Capital. "People are simply too concerned with the euro zone debt crisis so I don't expect sustained gains for metals from here." Trading volumes remained low, with top consumer China away. The Shanghai Futures Exchange is closed this week for the Lunar New Year holiday. Chinese financial markets will reopen on Monday, Jan. 30. Market focus now turns to the Federal Reserve, with the US central bank expected to begin a new practice of announcing policymakers' interest rate projections when a two-day meeting ends later on Wednesday. FALLING STOCKS Large stock withdrawals in LME-monitored warehouses helped support copper, with the latest data showing inventories monitored by the LME dropped by 2,500 tonnes to 339,750 tonnes, its lowest level since September 2009. "The pace of this withdrawal is quite strong and that indicates there is steady spot demand," Kryuchenkov said. On the technical front, copper could break on the upside, a trader in London said, citing a widespread theory that Chinese copper traders were short, and with the metal trading near a 200-day moving average, which if triggered could send a buy signal to funds. "Many copper traders are convinced the Chinese are short and will be big buyers after the holidays, an added reason why copper is facing 8,500 and a big breakout," he said. A break above the 200-day moving average for the first time in around five months could spur fresh technical buys, traders said, but with China away, any advance would likely prove short-lived. "There still seems to be this expectation that China will come crashing back into the copper market and start buying," Wilson added. "I don't think that is going to be the case." Aluminium closed at $2,252 a tonne from a close of $2,239 on Tuesday, and zinc at $2,175 from $2,125. Tin closed at $22,450 from $22,190, lead at $2,282 from $2,250 a tonne, and nickel at $20,940 from $20,600 a tonne.