SMM Evening Comments (Jan 18)

SHANGHAI, Jan 18 (SMM)－

Lead stood out among nonferrous metals with a 1% rise. Tin declined 1% and nickel slipped 0.43%. Copper, zinc and aluminium slid slightly.

The ferrous complex performed better. Iron ore rose 1.42% and rebar rose 1%. Coke edged up 0.74% and hot-rolled coil gained 0.55%. Coking coal gained slightly.

Copper: Copper faces a downward trend in the short term, and is expected to stay rangebound tonight. The US housing data in December may lend cues to the market tonight.

Nickel: SHFE nickel is expected to keep rangebound tonight. Housing and construction data from the US may also lend cues to the market tonight.

Aluminium: We see bearish cues both from the fundamental and technical points of view for SHFE aluminium. While it may go down to 14,500 yuan/mt in the short term, we believe the 14,300 yuan/mt level is likely in the medium term.

Zinc: Zinc saw an outflow of funds today as investors cut their positions. We expect it to trade around 26,000 yuan/mt tonight as LME zinc remained firm.

Lead: SHFE lead traded around 10-day moving average, which is expected to rangebound at current position and seek upward momentum.Lead: SHFE lead traded around 10-day moving average, which is expected to rangebound at current position and seek upward momentum.

Tin: SHFE tin dropped below the 5-20 day moving average, testing supporting strength of the 60-day moving average at 143,600 yuan/mt, which is expected to keep trading under pressure.

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