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Copper ends firmer

NEW YORK: COMEX copper settled higher in steady trading, underpinned by bullish short-term sentiment from the continued fall in LME stocks, a pick-up in the Far East market and buoyancy in other base metals, traders said.

May COMEX reached 120.70 cents, the highest since March 22 on a continuous weekly chart basis.

Fred Demler, minerals economist at E D and F Man said the convergence of several bullish factors helped the technical breakthrough above 120.50 cents basis May early on.

"Scrap is tight and physical demand is steady, so all these things continue to support the market as long as stocks decline," Demler said. "This is just a window of price strength as the fact of the matter is production is building and we are in the later phase of the business cycle."

May COMEX settled 1.20 cents higher at 119.60 cents a lb, traded 120.70 to 118.60 cents. Spot April was up 1.40 cents at 120.20 cents.

Volume was estimated at 8,500 lots compared to yesterday's official 6,340 lots.-Reuter