NEW YORK, Oct 9 (Reuters) - New York copper advanced Tuesday after a one-day sell-off that took prices down nearly 18 cents, but support levels held and traders said bullish supply/demand fundamentals drew buyers in at the lows.
Copper pushed higher with other metals despite a firm dollar versus euro, which attested to the metal's underlying strength, traders said.
"It's following all the other metals right now, the whole complex seems to be working its way up. Silver's up, gold's up, copper had a pretty big sell off but held support. There was no follow through selling at the lows. Instead, they're buying it back," said Scott Meyers, senior trading analyst with Pioneer Futures in New York.
Copper for December delivery (HGZ7: Quote, Profile, Research) on the New York Mercantile Exchange's COMEX division rallied 5.20 cents to $3.6650 a lb. The range high was $3.6735, up from the $3.5825 low, which stands above Monday's two-week low at $358.10.
With copper continuing its ascent as the morning progresses, traders said they see the uptrend resuming.
"It's still a bull market. Yesterday was a shake out. I don't necessarily expect we'll get everything back from yesterday's (selling), but we could get back up to $3.66 or $3.70 (per lb on Dec copper) in a blink," said Meyers.
Trade volume remained somewhat thinned with many metals players in London for LME week. Base metal participants gathered in London from around the world this week for annual London Metal Exchange events.
COMEX estimated final copper volume at 14,155 lots, up from Friday's tally at 9,801 lots. Open interest rose by 318 to 86,105 lots as of Friday.
On Monday, copper lost almost 18 cents, and 20 cents from the recent five-month high, after Chinese traders failed to buy at elevated levels when they returned from a week-long holiday. Other investors holding long positions became fearful the rally was overdone and unloaded in droves, traders said. Continued...
MRX Price at posting:
0.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
