SMM Evening Comments (Mar 28)

Published: Mar 28, 2018 17:42

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SMM Evening Comments

SHANGHAI, Mar 28 (SMM) – Nonferrous metals fell for the most part on Wednesday March 28 except for lead, which inched up slower than the previous day. Tin led losses with a drop over 1%, and copper, aluminium, zinc, and nickel edged down.

Across the ferrous complex, coke fell nearly 4%, coking coal declined almost 2%, and iron ore dipped over 1%. Rebar and hot-rolled coil inched up.

Copper: SHFE copper continued to fall without firm support today. We expect it to stablise in the short term and to test support at the 49,200 yuan/mt level tonight. The market will take more guidance from the change of US crude oil inventories over the week ended on March 23 reported by the Energy Information Administration.

Aluminium: SHFE aluminium fell as concerns of the trade war continued. We expect it to trade under pressure from the five-day moving average. The impact from the macro level will lead the SHFE aluminium in the short term.

Zinc: Lacking strong momentum, SHFE zinc traded weakly during the day and failed to stand above 25,000 yuan/mt. It dipped to a low of 24,770 yuan/mt near closing. As the pressure from shorts shows no sign of easing, we see SHFE zinc remaining rangebound and testing resistance at 25,000 yuan/mt tonight.

Nickel: SHFE nickel edged down to close at 96,210 yuan/mt today with resistance at the five-day moving average. We see it continuing to trade rangebound tonight. Investors can take more cues from the MBA Mortgage Applications of the US and its crude oil inventories for the week ended March 23.

Tin: SHFE tin led losses among base metals today, falling to a low of 140,200 yuan/mt with pressure from shorts in the afternoon. We expect it to test support at 140,000 yuan/mt in the short term.

Lead: SHFE lead remained firm and stood above the 20-day moving average during the day. We expect it to consolidate tonight. Investors should monitor LME lead tonight.

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