US copper futures continued their ascent early Wednesday, helped higher by news that workers at a major Mexican copper smelter walked off the job late Tuesday, sending spot copper up to a new record peak, traders said.

"Everybody's buying with that Grupo Mexico 1,000 workers walking off the job that happened late yesterday. Initially London went down, but then everything turned around," said one COMEX floor broker.

At the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, copper for December delivery gained 0.45 cent to $1.8290 and pushed up to a high at $1.8450 a lb. Last Thursday, December copper set a contract peak at $1.8580.

Spot October set a new record high at $1.9890 a lb, and was trading 1.45 higher at $1.9790 a lb. COMEX estimated 10 am EDT copper volume at 4,000 lots.

Copyright Reuters, 2005