SHANGHAI, Apr. 20 (SMM) – LME aluminum opened at USD 2,065/mt and dipped to USD 2,051/mt later pressured by weak US economic data. Successful Spanish debt auction afterwards helped the metal break through the 5-day moving average and finally settled near the level. Transacted contracts stayed above 10,000 lots while positions dropped 6,422 lots to 689,811 lots. Aluminum stocks in LME-bonded warehouses slipped a slight 8,875 mt to 5.06 million mt.

Mixed news will cause the cautious market sentiment to stay. As such, SMM expects LME aluminum to move narrowly between USD 2,055-2,085/mt during today’s trading. SHFE three-month aluminum contract is expected to hover between RMB 16,050-16,120/mt with support from reserve requirement cut expectations. Spot aluminum is expected to traded at discounts of RMB 30/mt to premiums of RMB 10/mt over the current-month SHFE aluminum price.