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Copper futures in New York ended in positive territory on Friday after an early test below $3.00 a lb failed to attract further long liquidation, leaving traders to ponder the market's next move.

"The market is still consolidating its recent move from last week, and until it decides on which way it wants to go, we'll continue to be stuck in rangebound dealings," said one broker at a New York trading house.

Copper for December delivery settled up 1.65 cents at $3.0575 a lb on the New York Mercantile Exchange's COMEX division, after dealing from an overnight ACCESS low at $2.9750 to $3.0650.

Floor dealers noted the market's failure to break below the overnight low in early COMEX trade, prompted a late bout of covering.

"Locals drove it down to a low of $2.98, not even through the overnight low. We bounced on either side of $3.00 for the remainder of the morning, and then all of a sudden, at around noon, a late flurry of buying came in ... probably some shorts covering into the close," said one.

The now most-active March contract rose 1.75 cents to settle at $3.0925. Spot November gained 1.65 cents to $3.0525, and back months closed with gains ranging from 1.70 to 1.85 cents.

COMEX final copper volume was estimated at 15,000 lots, compared with Thursday's official count at 11,058 lots.

Broad-based liquidation in commodity markets on Friday, led by sharp declines in the energy markets, pressured COMEX copper futures at the open, with additional weakness stemming from a weaker-than-expected report on U.S. housing starts in October.

The U.S. Commerce Department reported the pace of U.S. home building fell sharply in October as new home starts dropped 14.6 percent to their lowest level in over six years and building permits fell 6.3 percent.

"The housing data is certainly a contributor to copper's slide this morning. The weak housing starts and building permits just continue to add on to the downfall in residential construction," said Michael John Cuoco, research analyst at Mitsui Bussan Commodities (U.S.A.) Inc.

The general slowdown in U.S. home building reflected the recent builds in exchange-monitored stockpiles.

London Metal Exchange copper warehouse inventories surged 4,025 tonnes to 155,975 tonnes on Friday, while COMEX stocks rose 85 short tons at 25,903 short tons on Thursday.

Copper inventories in warehouses monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell by 10 percent in the week ended Thursday to 31,576 tonnes, from 35,123 tonnes the week before.

On the production front, the largest workers' union at Chile's Codelco Norte, the giant copper miner's largest division, says the company is going to have to boost bonuses if it wants to avoid a crippling strike.

LME three-months copper closed at $6,790 a tonne, paring earlier losses after hitting a near five-month low at $6,645.