US copper futures slid early on Tuesday when speculative sellers unloaded their holdings to match the drop in London copper prices where the stronger dollar sparked profit taking, traders said. Red metal prices lost more ground in New York when stop loss sell orders triggered accelerated selling, and traders ignored a series of copper bullish factors.

At the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, benchmark March copper slid 2.10 cents to $1.4140 per lb. The range ran down to $1.4030 a lb. from $1.4370.

Spot February fell 1.80 cents to $1.4450 a lb., with the rest losing from 2.70 to 2.10 cents.

COMEX estimated 1000 am EST copper volume picked up to a heftier clip than usual of 7,000 lots.

Copyright Reuters, 2005