SMM Evening Comments (Mar 5): Nonferrous metals on the SHFE closed mostly lower, Nickel tumbled 6.7%

SHANGHAI, Mar 5 (SMM) – SHFE nonferrous metals fell broadly on Friday March 5. Copper fell 1.76%, aluminium declined 1.68%, nickel tumbled 6.7%, lead weakened 1.31% and tin slid 1.52%, while zinc inched up 0.05%.

Copper: The most-traded SHFE 2105 copper contract fell 1.76% to finish the day at 66,010 yuan/mt, with open interest rising 9,671 lots to 127,000 lots.

The Two Sessions once again proposed to vigorously develop the commodity futures and options market, strengthen the combination of futures and current markets, and enrich types of institutional investors to promote the opening of the futures market.

The US Federal Reserve Chairman Powell reiterated his dovish remarks in his latest speech. He did not try to curb the rising trend of long-term interest rates and this disappointed investors.

The OPEC+ unexpectedly kept its April oil production unchanged, indicating that crude oil supply will be tight in the next few months, which boosted oil prices.

Aluminium: The most-active SHFE 2104 aluminium contract ended the day 1.68% lower at 17,245 yuan/mt, with open interest losing 3,908 lots to 199,000 lots.

Zinc: The most-liquid SHFE 2104 zinc contract edged up 0.05% to close the day at 21,240 yuan/mt, with open interest decreasing 4,536 lots to 73,660 lots. Zinc prices gained support as downstream users have restored production. Social inventories of refined zinc ingots across Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong and Hebei decreased 3,200 mt in the week ended March 5 to 258,900 mt. Treatment charges for zinc concentrate rose 100 yuan/mt and 50 yuan/mt in Hunan and Guangxi respectively as local imported concentrate increased, but extended declines in Yunnan, Sichuan and Inner Mongolia.

Nickel: The most-active SHFE 2106 nickel contract plunged 6.7% to close the day at 121,750 yuan/mt, with open interest rising 3,950 lots to 68,701 lots.

Lead: The most-traded SHFE 2104 lead contract dropped 1.31% to finish the day at 15,080 yuan/mt, with open interest decreasing 3,235 lots to 33,690 lots. Social inventories of lead ingots across Shanghai, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Tianjin rose 11,300 mt from last Friday February 26 to 58,000 mt as of March 5. This was up 9,500 mt from Monday March 1.