US copper futures rose at the open after copper stocks fell in London and continued higher early on Tuesday when US housing numbers came in stronger than expected, traders said.

"The Chinese bought it overnight. There was a good bit of fund liquidation the middle and end of last week that carried over to Monday. And I think that people are just turning back and looking at it because the price has held up fairly well," said one copper trader.

At the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, copper for December delivery raced up 3.55 cents to the high at $1.82 and up from a low at $1.77. COMEX estimated 10 am EDT copper volume at 4,000 lots.

Copyright Reuters, 2005