By Onome Amuge
Three-month LME aluminium rebounded from a two-week low of $1,953 per tonne, rising to an intraday high of $1,979 per tonne before surrendering some gains to stand at $1,971 per tonne at the close of Tuesday’s trading with open interest adding 4,145 lots to 735,000 lots.
The LME aluminium opening stock also edged lower at 1421725 tonnes on February 2 compared with 1428175 tonnes recorded on February 1. Live Warrants totalled 1164200 tonnes, while Cancelled Warrants at 257525 tonnes.
In the Shanghai Futures Exchange, benchmark aluminium price stumbled to $2326 per tonne on Wednesday morning, losing $26 from the $2352 per tonne price recorded at the close of Tuesday’s trade.
The most-liquid SHFE 2103 aluminium contract was down 0.79 per cent lower at RMB 14,975 ($2,318.43) per tonne in overnight trading, with open interest rising 2,989 lots to 168,000 lots.
The price, according to commodity analysts, is likely to move between RMB 14,800-15,100 ($2,291.31-$2,337.71) per tonne today, while spot premiums will be seen stable at RMB 0-20 per tonne.
On the other hand, Tuesday’s trading ended bearish on the LME for most base metals as copper lost 0.64 per cent to settle at $7,823 per tonne while zinc price was down by 0.50 per cent to $2,573.50.
Market analysts said the lockdown in some regions in China, including Beijing, its capital city, due to worries over the covid-19 resurgence, as well as a seasonal slowdown ahead of the Chinese lunar new year, has hurt demand for the red metal in the Asian powerhouse. This, as revealed by surveys, shows a drop in manufacturing activities in the world’s highest copper consuming country, recording its slowest demand rate since Q4, 2020.
