The more heavily traded March contract settled at 99.30 cents a pound.

The March contract traded as high as $4.195 during the session.

The March contract rose $1.89, to $21.05 a barrel.

Analysts noted, however, that the 33,970 open interest in the soon-to-expire March contract was not particularly low.

The March contract dropped 6.34 cents, or 634 points, during the trading session.

The March contract lost nearly 10 percent of its value in the last week.

"That caused a limit-up move soon after the opening in the March contract, and the rest almost went limit up," he said.

"The arbitrage community got out of the March contract and into the June."

Copper was 1 to 2.35 cents lower, with the March contract at $1.0990 a pound.

The March contract has risen by 9.23 cents a pound, a gain of nearly 7 percent, over the last four sessions.