SHANGHAI, Apr. 18 (SMM) – The most active SHFE lead contract price started Wednesday’s night session at RMB 13,740/mt, and then followed LME lead prices up to RMB 13,800/mt before ending up RMB 85/mt at RMB 13,795/mt. Traded volumes totaled merely 20 lots, and positions added 2 lots to 6,252 lots. SHFE lead prices gradually stabilized Thursday at RMB 13,780/mt after sinking briefly to RMB 13,745/mt, and closed up RMB 75/mt, or 0.55%, at RMB 13,785/mt. Traded volumes gained 132 lots to 474 lots, while positions lost 280 lots to 5,970 lots. The most active SHFE lead contract price is confronted with strong resistance at RMB 13,800/mt, and will be range-bound for the near term with solid base support.

In the Shanghai physical lead market, goods from Chihong Zn & Ge, Nanfang, and Chengyuan traded Thursday between RMB 13,780-13,800/mt at a RMB 30/mt premium to the SHFE 1405 contract. Traded prices were RMB 13,750-13,760/mt for Shuangyan wrapped with plastic steel and Humon, and RMB 13,720/mt for Shuangyan wrapped with iron sheet. Continuing rises in physical prices turned cargo holders reluctant to trade, causing relatively tight supply overall, while poor sales as well as high pile-up in inventories left downstream producers on the sidelines. As a result, trading activity was rather light on Thursday.