SHANGHAI, Jul. 11 (SMM) – Lead for August delivery, the most active contract, fell by RMB 20/mt during Wednesday’s night session on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, dampened by LME lead prices. During the night session, a total of 386 lots were traded, with most transactions done for the SHFE 1409 and 1410 lead contracts.

On Thursday, SHFE lead prices hovered largely between RMB 14,050-14,070/mt during the morning trading session, with only around 20 lots traded. The most active contract traded mostly at RMB 14,040-14,050/mt during the afternoon trading session, and closed down RMB 20/mt at RMB 14,050/mt. Trading volumes for the contract were 514 lots, and positions were off 4 lots to 6,372 lots. SHFE lead prices have found solid support at RMB 14,000-14,050/mt.

In the Shanghai physical lead market, no supply from Chihong Zn & Ge, Nanfang, and Chengyuan was available on Thursday. Meanwhile, unfavorable spread between SHFE lead prices and physical lead prices also discouraged traders from moving goods. In this context, Chengyuan resources were quoted at RMB 13,930/mt, and goods from Humon traded at RMB 13,880-13,900/mt. Downstream producers regarded present prices as appropriate and bought on an as-needed basis. Nevertheless, cargo holders reported that trading activity remained sluggish since downstream producers have not started operations at full capacity.