Overnight, LME zinc opened at $2412.5/mt, hitting a low and high of $2411.5/mt and $2459/mt respectively, and closed at $2428/mt, up $11/mt or 0.46%. Trading volume decreased to 8227 lots, and open interest grew 1433 lots to 204,000 lots. LME zinc inventory dropped by 2750 mt or 1.28% to 212250 mt. The U.S. dollar index fell all the way at the beginning of the session. However, during the night, U.S. inflation data was released. The U.S. non-seasonally adjusted CPI annual rate growth in November slowed to 3.1% as expected, and the month-on-month growth unexpectedly accelerated to 0.1%. The core CPI growth rate was 4% year-on-year, the same as in October, and accelerated to 0.3% month-on-month. The data showed that the possibility of a U.S. interest rate cut in March was reduced, and the adjustment in interest rate cut expectations affected the confidence of the LME zinc market.
The most active SHFE 2401 zinc contract prices opened at 20880 yuan/mt and gained 75 yuan/mt or 0.36% to settle at 20810 yuan/mt, with the high-end of 21030 yuan/mt and the low-end of 20780 yuan/mt. Trading volumes decreased to 44881 lots and open interest fell 1668 lots to 77836 lots. During the night session, the rise in the U.S. dollar index caused macroeconomic pressure on non-ferrous metals. SMM expected that refined zinc output will run at a high level in December. SHFE zinc has weakened due to expectations of increased supply.
