US March copper futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange settled up 2 percent on the day at $3.436 per lb, ending the year on a positive note after signs of improvement in the US economy.
But prices were down 23 percent from the end of last year, when they closed at $4.447, after copper had posted double-digit percentage gains in both 2009 and 2010.
Copper prices plunged in the second half of 2011 as concerns about the euro zone debt crisis and over demand from China, the world's largest copper consumer, pressured the bellwether industrial metal.
Managed money has been bearish on copper prices in the fourth quarter, data from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed.
The metal, a barometer of industrial strength, is entering 2012 on an uncertain footing, and analysts said its outlook would likely be tied to the state of the global economy.
