SHANGHAI, Marc. 7 (SMM) -- LME tin for delivery in three months opened at USD 23,450/mt and closed at USD 23,452/mt overnight, down by USD 148/mt from a day earlier, with the highest price at USD 23,570/mt and the lowest price at USD 23,333/mt. Daily trading volumes were 269 lots, down by 66 lots. Positions were 21,835 lots, down by 787 lots from a day earlier. LME tin inventories were down by 5 mt to 13,480 mt.

LME tin prices largely moved narrowly on Wednesday, hitting a intraday high at USD 23,570/mt and a low at USD 23,400/mt. Finally, LME tin prices closed at USD 23,452/mt, down USD 148/mt from a day earlier. Although ADP employment data were better than market expectation, the concern over Friday’s the US nonfarm data and concern over demand from China weighed down LME tin prices.

The US February ADP employment payrolls increased by 198,000, higher than market expectation. New payrolls were 77,000 at companies with employees between 1-49, 65,000 at companies with employees between 50-499, and 57,000 at t companies with employees over 500. Meanwhile, Republican-controlled House passed a bill Wednesday afternoon to prevent a government shutdown when the current funding expires on March 27, while keeping in place the sequester. The legislation is scheduled to be voted by the Senate next week. In addition, the Beige Book Reports from the twelve Federal Reserve Districts indicated that economic activity generally expanded at a modest to moderate pace since the previous Beige Book posted on Jan. 16.

In the euro zone, the euro slipped slightly on the stalemate of the Italian political condition. Meanwhile, the euro zone exports for 4Q fell by 0.9%, the largest decline since 1Q 2009, which further weighed down the euro.

In China, China’s fiscal revenue during the first two months totaled RMB 2.24 trillion, up RMB 150.8 billion, or up 7.2% YoY, far blow the average level of 12.8% in 2012, which was mainly due to China’s economic growth trend and structure tax cut as well as market concern over inflationary pressure amid global loose monetary policy and high M1 and M2 in China.

Investors are paying great attention to the European Central Bank's policy meeting on Thursday and its decision on interest rate as well as the US nonfarm employment data. SMM expects that LME tin prices will meet resistance at USD 23,700/mt and Shanghai nickel spot prices will move between RMB 155,500-158,000/mt on Thursday.