LME zinc opened at $2407/mt last Friday evening, and hit a high of $2438/mt before falling back to $2382.5/mt, and closed at $2389.5/mt, a decrease of $16.5/mt or 0.69%. Trading volume rose to 12232 lots, and open interest added 1379 lots to 200,000 lots. LME zinc inventory dropped by 3100 mt or 1.42% to 215450 mt. The number of non-farm jobs in the United States increased by 199,000 in November, which was higher than expected. The unemployment rate fell to 3.7% from 3.9% in the previous month. Strong labor market fundamentals suggest that the Federal Reserve may cut interest rates too early. As expectations for interest rate cuts change, London zinc is under pressure to decline.
The most active SHFE 2311 prices opened at 20725 yuan/mt and lost 155 yuan/mt or 0.75% to settle at 20570 yuan/mt in last Friday evening trading with the high-end of 20800 yuan/mt and the low-end of 20530 yuan/mt. Trading volumes decreased to 40471 lots and open interest fell 232 lots to 85629 lots. China's CPI fell by 0.5% year-on-year in November, being negative for two consecutive months. PPI fell by 3% year-on-year in November, the largest single-month decline in three years. Demand continued to be sluggish under increasing deflationary pressure, and zinc prices are under macro pressure.
