Funds have this year played copper from the short side and from the long side but with little success either way. They are now broadly neutral as they and everyone else try to work out where Doctor Copper is heading next. In part this is a reflection of copper’s lack of directional impetus in recent weeks. The London Metal Exchange (LME) contract has since late February been treading water in a $6,300-6,550 range with an absence of clear chart signals. On Monday, it was trading around $6,470 per tonne. That has muted activity from the black-box funds that feed off momentum and other technical indicators. But copper’s ... (full story)