COMEX COPPER

1403 GMT [Dow Jones] - Profit-taking after a recent run-up, plus a weak U.S. housing-starts report, have left Comex copper under pressure in early trading. "We've had a nice move in there," says Frank Lesh, broker and futures analyst with Future Path Trading. The March futures ran up from a low of $2.3855 on Feb. 8 to a high of $2.6900 Thursday. "It looks like people are taking some money out of the market," says Lesh. Meanwhile, January housing starts fell 14.3% to an annual rate of 1.408 million when 1.6 million had been forecast. "What does that say about demand for copper in the spring?" asks Lesh rhetorically. March copper is down 4.40 cents to $2.6200 and hit its $2.6170 low for the day about the time that housing starts and as-expected PPI were being released. (ALS)