SHANGHAI, Mar 9 (SMM) – Nonferrous metals on the SHFE mostly dropped today except for tin, which inched up slightly. Zinc fell over 2%, copper slid almost 2%, and nickel dipped over 1%, while aluminium and lead edged down slightly.

The ferrous complex saw larger drops in the afternoon as iron ore led the slump with a decline more than 5%. Coke dropped 4.7%, rebar slipped nearly 4%, while hot-rolled coil and coking coal fell over 3%.

Copper: Base metals remained weak as the trade war simmered and SHFE copper fell to a low of 51,100 yuan/mt. The US nonfarm payrolls (NFP) for February will give more guidance to the market tonight.

Aluminium: SHFE aluminium touch a new low today at 14,020 yuan/mt as a slower-than-expected recovery of downstream demand post-Chinese New Year prompted investors to add to their short position. We expect the contract to stay weak next week in the range of 13,900-14,250 yuan/mt.

Nickel: Declining LME nickel inventory and an increase in cancelled warrants are likely to lead an upward correction for SHFE nickel tonight.

Zinc: With pressure from the shorts, SHFE zinc faced resistance and fell to a low of 24,505 yuan/mt today. It will trade rangebound with downward pressure tonight, with support at 24,500 yuan/mt.

Lead: The decline in SHFE lead widened today. We see it trading rangebound and testing support at the 60-day moving average tonight.

Tin: SHFE tin outperformed other base metals and inched up today but met resistance from moving averages. We expect it to trade rangebound in the short term with support at 145,000 yuan/mt and resistance at 148,000 yuan/mt.

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