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COMEX copper naps before early close, long weekend

NEW YORK: New York copper futures were idling a smidge higher in a featureless market, with traders drumming fingers before a noontime close for the three-day Martin Luther King weekend.

COMEX copper trade ends on Friday and the market will be closed on Monday in observance of the holiday.

"There is absolutely nothing going on. It's an early close and there is no activity today," said a metals trader.

Active March was up 0.25 cent at 85.90 cents a lb, trading inside one cent between 85.50 and 86.15 cents a lb. Spot January was up 0.20 cent at 85.10 cents and February was up 0.45 cent at 85.65.

On the London Metal Exchange, three-months copper ended the midday kerb at $1,885 a tonne, up $3 from the last kerb close.

Low ring volumes are seen an obstacle to breaking the 21-month high at $1,904 from Wednesday and achieving the targeted $1,910 area.

Fund buying on Wednesday propelled the March contract up 2.25 cents,exceeding old highs at 86.20-86.50 cents and removing stop-loss buy orders at 85.40 on the way up to a new intraday peak of 86.95 cents.

Key resistance is now seen at 87 cents.

Indicating ballooning length in the copper market, open interest was up 5,193 contracts on Wednesday, described as a large change for copper.

Final COMEX copper volume on Thursday was estimated at 18,000 contracts, compared with Wednesday's official final turnover of 18,212 contracts.

The nine-day relative strength index for March copper ended on Thursday at 54, down from a nearly overbought at 69 on Wednesday.

Technical analysts usually interpret an RSI reading at 70 or higher as indicating overbought conditions and a reading of 30 or below as oversold.-Reuters