copper futures up 3.3 percent

May 5 (Bloomberg - Millie Munshi)

Copper pared gains after soaring to a record on speculation that a trader error may have triggered an early surge.

The metal jumped as much as 44 cents, or 12 percent, to a record $4.2605 a pound, the highest ever, at about 8:30 a.m. on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The price was back below $4 around 45 minutes later. Copper still closed higher on concern that a strike in Chile, the world's biggest producer, may lead to shortages of the metal.

``It seems like somebody did something they didn't mean to do,'' said Ron Goodis, a futures trading director at Equidex Brokerage Group Inc. in Closter, New Jersey.. ``You've got to have guts to go back in this market now and take a side.''

Copper futures for July delivery closed up 12.7 cents, or 3.3 percent, at $3.9475 a pound.

``More than 40 cents higher in copper within a matter of minutes is unbelievable,'' Goodis said. ``It's hard to believe it's real. I've never seen anything quite like that in copper.'