SMM Daily Review - 2012/2/15 Aluminum Market

SHANGHAI, Feb. 16 (SMM) – The most active SHFE three-month aluminum contract previously hit RMB 16,270/mt but closed with a slight RMB 5/mt or 0.03% gain at RMB 16,220/mt on Wednesday, mainly due to concerns towards sluggish demand. SMM expects the contract to experience further volatility and is likely to present some losses in the near term.

Spot aluminum traded between RMB 15,870-15,900/mt in Shanghai, at discounts of RMB 20-50/mt over the SHFE current-month aluminum price. The current-month SHFE aluminum contract was heavily pressured at the 5-day moving average on the last trading day before delivery, leading to slight losses in spot prices. Spot discounts over the contract consequently failed to hit zero. Goods holders’ were touting deals at slight discounts before the latter widen after shift of the current-month contract. Overall traded volume was limited though.