SMM Daily Review - 2012/2//1 Base Metals Market

張貼日期：Feb 02, 2012 9:17:1 AM

Aluminum

While China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing reported a 0.2 percentage point gain in its China PMI for January to 50.5%, HSBC’s measure stayed below 50 the equilibrium line, which reads at 48.8, despite of a slight jump. Investors provided mixed responses to the two readings, with the Shanghai Composite Index surging and dropping on Wednesday. The most active SHFE three-month aluminum contract tracked movements of the Shanghai Composite Index and closed down RMB 90/mt or 0.55% at RMB 16,215/mt. Transactions dropped another 290 lots to 9,116 lots while total positions decreased 826 lots to 58,454 lots. The contract got barely enough support to stay above the RMB 16,200/mt mark as good news has been limited.

Spot aluminum traded between RMB 15,930-15,960/mt in Shanghai, at discounts of RMB 100-130/mt over the SHFE current-month aluminum price. Low-iron aluminum traded between RMB 15,980-16,010/mt. Traded prices of spot aluminum in Wuxi were between RMB 15,880-15,920/mt. Despite lower quotations due to gradually increasing supply, the traded volume was light as downstream demand still has not picked up. Some traders said spot aluminum will see discounts stay at present levels and aluminum price won’t be able to stay above RMB 16,000/mt in the near term as downstream demand needs time to recover.