COMEX copper futures ended at one-year highs June 4 on heavy fund buying on news of copper output cuts in Mexico and Chile, according to a Reuters story.
COMEX copper for July delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange closed at 78.60 cents a pound, up 1.05 cents or 1.35 percent, at its highest level since June 2001, trading from 76.80 to 79.45 cents. Copper has inched up from 14-year lows near 60 cents in November, but the market still faces slack demand and record-high inventories of about 1.5 million tons in warehouses.
Grupo Mexico, the world's No. 3 copper producer, said it would close the Cananea mine because it could not meet workers' demands for higher wages. It said the closure would last until market conditions improved and the labor dispute was resolved.
Meanwhile in Chile, a power blackout caused by the worst storms in more than 100 years halted copper production at the Los Bronces mine, owned by a unit of Exxon Mobil Corp.