Rebar Futures Market Plunges on Monday, Spot Price Weighed

SHANGHAI, Apr. 16 (SMM) - The Shanghai Composite Index lost 2,200, with SHFE 1310 rebar contract price closing at RMB 3,738/mt, down 2.4%. Domestic commodity futures generally closed the day with declines, and energy and chemical industry and metals futures fell across the board, while agricultural product futures mostly dropped. Due to investment bank selling goods and outflow of market capital, analysis institutions all lowered their forecasts for gold and silver prices, causing gold, silver and rubber prices to fall by daily limits. China's GDP growth in Q1 was 7.7%, lower than forecasts, causing market optimism to fade.

Spot rebar prices in Hangzhou, Beijing, Nanning and Guangzhou fell by RMB 10-20/mt, while prices in Shanghai and Wuhan stood steady, with declines of RMB 10/mt in some regions. Building sites reduced purchases, and traders took a wait-and-see attitude, keeping overall transactions muted. Despite market sentiment was negatively affected due to negative news, market players reported inventories were now falling, which shows fundamentals are improving, and remained cautious since lowering prices will not necessarily boost demand. Steelease attributes restrains of prices to oversupply, believing inventory depletion will be implemented in the foreseeable future, and market players will operate cautiously since prices are still fluctuating at low levels, so effects from financial factors will weaken, and spot price fluctuations will be narrow. Besides, billet prices have resistance to fall due to firm iron ore prices, so rebar futures prices will likely rebound slightly in the foreseeable future.