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Ardent Listener
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 Posted - 01/17/2008 : 17:16:58
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NEW YORK, Jan 17 (Reuters) - U.S. copper futures pared earlier gains to settle a shade higher on Thursday as prices lacked any clear-cut direction and investors struggled with slower growth concerns in the United States and a weaker dollar, analysts said.
"It was a day of indecision in the copper market," said Ralph Preston, senior market analyst with Heritage West Financial in San Diego, California. "I think it's becoming a beneficiary of the inflation story and the weaker dollar."
Copper for March delivery HGH8 settled up 0.95 cent to $3.1820 a lb on the New York Mercantile Exchange's COMEX division, after dealing between $3.13 and $3.2460.
Final estimated futures volumes totaled 15,201 lots, in line with Wednesday's official count of 15,165 lots.
Open interest in COMEX copper futures fell 870 lots to 82,979 contracts open as of Jan. 16.
The dollar retreated on Thursday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told a congressional committee more interest rate cuts may be necessary as the U.S. economic outlook has worsened.
Bernanke's comments were widely seen as a signal that the U.S. central bank would slash rates by a hefty half-percentage point when policy makers meet at month's end, which would undermine the attractiveness of dollar-denominated assets, like copper.
Prices of the economically sensitive metal bounced on either side of unchanged throughout the day, with a double-dose of economic data echoing the chairman's bleak assessment of the economy.
A survey showed factory activity in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region contracted dramatically in January, reinforcing fears of recession. Continued...
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