Base Metals Hover at Highs (Jul. 4-8, 2016)

SHANGHAI, Jul. 8 (SMM) – The FOMC meeting minutes for June showed US job market is facing rising uncertainties. The pound plunged after UK’s vote, dipping to a 31-year low. The US dollar index reached 96.496, and crude oil slumped to as low as USD 44.87/bbl. Base metals rolled back early gains.

The SMMI fell 1%. Copper led declines, with SMMI.Cu falling 2.05%. Spot trading was lackluster. LME zinc fell from USD 2170/mt to USD 2,100/mt, and SHFE 1609 zinc tested RMB 16,500/mt. SMMI.Zn slid 0.73%. September lead on the SHFE hovered around RMB 13,000/mt, and spot lead was relatively firm thanks to tight supplies of ore and peak demand season. The SMMI.Pb was down 0.4%.

Tin, nickel and aluminum were resistant to declines. LME nickel fell to USD 9,700/mt, down over 4%. SHFE September nickel dropped over 5% or RMB 5,000/mt. Spot nickel rose 6.11%. The SMMI.Ni rose 2.25%. SHFE tin rose by daily limit at one point. The SMMI.Sn was up 7.79% initially then erased some gains, increasing 2.43% as of the week’s end. The SMMI.Al rose 0.22% on falling inventories.