SHANGHAI, Mar. 19 (SMM) -- LME tin for delivery in three months opened at USD 23,745/mt and closed at USD 23,150/mt overnight, down by USD 748/mt from a day earlier, with the highest price at USD 23,745/mt and the lowest price at USD 23,050/mt. Daily trading volumes were 575 lots, up by 256 lots. Positions were 21,256 lots, up by 28 lots from a day earlier. LME tin inventories were down by 5 mt to 13,770 mt.

LME tin prices plunged to hit a low at USD 23,050/mt after opening, down USD 748/mt from a day earlier, which was due to renewed concern over the European debt crisis.
In order to reduce losses for common people, Cyprus' government is reportedly proposing to skew the raid on bank deposits towards larger accounts, with one idea being to tax savings of under €100,000 at 3% instead of 6.7%, as initially planned. Deposits of between €100,000-50,000 would be levied at 10% instead of 9.9%, and deposits of over €50,000 would be levied at 15%. The proposal will be voted on Tuesday, and the result will affect market movement. The European equity market slumped and risk aversion fund flew into Germany’s government bond, lowering the yield rate of Germany’s 10-year government bond to by 6 basis points to 1.4%. However, borrowing costs of other countries rose, and the Greek 10-year government bond yielding rate surged by 50 basis points to 11.31%.

In China, housing prices still rose on February. 66 out of 70 cities in China reported housing price increase, and only 53 cities reported price hike in the previous month. Average housing price rose by 1.0% MoM and up 1.75% YoY. Beijing issued detailed rules for housing regulation.

SMM expects that LME tin prices will continue to fall to find support at USD 23,000/mt and Shanghai tin spot prices will move between RMB 152,500-155,500/mt on Tuesday.