SHFE copper continued to rise [SMM Copper Morning Comment]

The LME market was closed on Monday due to the holiday. The most active SHFE 2405 copper contract prices opened at 72600 yuan/mt and closed at 73090 yuan/mt last evening, up 0.37%, with the high-end of 73370 yuan/mt. Trading volumes stood at 28,000 lots and open interest stood at 176,000 lots. On the macro front, due to the prospect of tightening crude oil supply in Mexico and the risk of expanding conflicts in the Middle East brought about by Israel's attack on Syria, oil prices hit a recent high, which also pushed up copper prices. Domestically, Caixin China's manufacturing PMI recorded 51.1 in March, which has been in the expansion range for five consecutive months, which is good for copper prices. In terms of fundamentals, from the supply side, more than 50% of the supply in Shanghai and Jiangsu has been registered as warehouse receipts, and the supply of tradable spot goods has begun to tighten, raising premiums. However, tight supply did not occur. On the consumption side, copper futures prices and spot quotes both rose, which hit the market's purchasing sentiment and reduced orders for processing companies. On the fundamentals, as of Monday April 1, SMM copper inventory across major Chinese markets increased 300 mt from last Friday to 391,200 mt, up 185,000 mt YoY. Due to the influence of macro sentiment, copper prices will move strongly in the near future.