By Allen Sykora Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES Copper futures are marginally softer in early trading Friday, but have recovered from their overnight lows as the euro bounces from its weakest levels against the U.S. dollar. Otherwise, a weaker euro than late Thursday and increases in warehouse copper inventories are factors holding the metal back after its recent surge, traders said. Around 9:15 a.m. EST (1415 GMT), March copper was down 0.60 cent to $3.1000 per pound on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The euro was around $1.4845, down from $1.4925 late Thursday afternoon. That may limit any gains for copper, said one trader. Still, the European currency is up from its $1.4801 low, and that helped March copper recover from its overnight low of $3.0775, said another. "Copper is following euro/dollar," he said. Otherwise, he said, copper has been consolidating and correcting since hitting a 15-month high of $3.1925 on Wednesday. "It went up too high, too fast, and there was a correction," he said. "But at the same time, at the moment, it's following the euro/dollar currency and more stocks coming into warehouses." LME copper warehouse stocks rose 1,325 metric tons to 421,875 from Thursday to Friday. Meanwhile, Shanghai Futures Exchange inventories rose 2,466 metric tons over the last week to 107,405. There are no major U.S. economic reports on the calendar for copper to react to on Friday. -By Allen Sykora, Dow Jones Newswires; 541-318-8765; allen.sykora@dowjones.com

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