Investing.com - Copper futures swung between small gains and losses on Wednesday, amid lingering concerns over the health of China’s economy.
The Asian nation is the world’s largest copper consumer, accounting for almost 40% of world consumption last year.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, copper futures for May delivery traded in a range between $3.217 a pound and $3.232 a pound.
Copper prices last traded at $3.226 a pound during European morning hours, down 0.02%. The May copper contract ended down 0.4% on Tuesday to settle at $3.227 a pound.
Futures were likely to find support at $3.204 a pound, the low from February 24 and resistance at $3.259 a pound, the high from February 24.
Copper prices have been under pressure in recent sessions amid ongoing concerns that attempts by policymakers in Beijing to cool China’s property sector and rein in lending will reduce demand for the industrial metal.
A cooler property sector not only weighs on demand for copper as construction material, but also dampens consumption from the home appliances sector.
Meanwhile, market players awaited the release of key U.S. data later in the day to further gauge the strength of the economy. The country was to release data on new home sales for January later in the session.
On Tuesday, the Conference Board said that its U.S. consumer confidence index declined to 78.1 in February, from a downwardly revised 79.4 last month, amid concerns over the short-term outlook for business conditions, jobs and earnings.
A recent series of disappointing U.S. economic indicators have sparked concerns that the recovery has lost momentum since the end of last year as inclement winter weather weighed on growth.
The U.S. is second behind China in global copper demand.
Elsewhere on the Comex, gold for April delivery shed 0.15% to trade at $1,340.80 a troy ounce, while silver for May delivery dipped 0.25% to trade at $21.95 a troy ounce.