Nonferrous metals were higher for the most part in volatile trading on Tuesday morning as oil prices reversed earlier gains to move lower.

Nonferrous metals traded mixed on Friday morning as investors awaited the release of Chinese economic data.

SHFE base metals closed mixed on the last trading day of April, as investors assessed mixed Chinese economic data and positive developments on a potential new treatment for Covid-19.

China’s customs administration has released March import and export data for nonferrous metals products, which could provide some cues and a sneak peak into the impact from the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown to businesses.

Inventories of refined nickel in the Shanghai bonded areas were unchanged this week, as the import arbitrage window remained closed.

Social inventories of lead ingots in China continued to trend downsides this week, but the decline slowed down from a week ago due to rising supplies of secondary lead.

SMM data showed that inventories of pure nickel in the Shanghai bonded areas declined 700 mt in the week ended April 3 to 18,600 mt, with stocks of cathode shrinking 600 mt to 16,700 mt.

SHFE nonferrous metals, except for tin and nickel, traded lower on Monday, giving up the rebound from last Friday as investors remained cautious about the economic toll of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Zinc inventories in China continued to fall over the weekend, propelled by declines in east and north China where downstream consumers were keen to make purchases. SMM data showed that social inventories of refined zinc ingots across Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong and Hebei stood at 304,000 mt as of Monday March 30, down 3,000 mt from Friday March 27 and 20,000 mt from Monday March 23.

Nickel ore inventories across all Chinese ports decreased 400,000 wmt in the week ended March 27 to 10.26 million wmt, compared to a decline of 670,000 wmt in the previous week, showed SMM data.