Active December copper eased 0.10 cent to $1.2405 a lb on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, after trading from $1.2450 to $1.2190, which marked its softest level since July 28.
Players continued to pare long positions as futures were seen in a corrective phase after strong gains over the summer that took copper from about $1.08 a lb back in May to a peak on August 16 of $1.3190.
"Technically, it is a very encouraging settlement. The fact that it is not down 200 points is definitely refreshing," said Pioneer Futures analyst Scott Meyers. "I'm thinking $1.25 to $1.26 in next day or two and maybe even a little higher going into next week.
September copper, meanwhile, rose 0.05 cent to $1.2395, with the rest up 0.05 cent to down 0.20 cent. Two US economic reports failed to brighten the market's mood, despite a dip in the dollar against the euro that typically favours base metals prices.
Traders also have been leery of holding long positions since last on Wednesday of a possible build-up of refined metal in London Metal Exchange copper warehouses. Prices plummeted last week on the back of a huge 39 percent jump in LME stocks.
LME warehouse stocks fell 600 tonnes to 109,050 tonnes on Wednesday and Comex inventories fell 564 short tons to 66,413 short tons on Tuesday. Final Comex copper estimated volume hit 23,000 lots, above on Tuesday's official count of 13,023 lots. Open interest fell 2,018 to 69,773 contracts.
Looking to the economic numbers, July durable goods orders rose 1.7 percent, against expectations for a 1.0-percent gain. July single family new home sales fell 6.4 percent to a 1.134 million annual rate, from a 1.211 million rate in June.
LME three-month copper erased on Tuesday's gain to end down $29 at $2,706 a tonne.