Inventories of aluminium billet in China fell for the sixth consecutive week as of April 16 as arrivals remained limited. 

Social inventories of copper cathode in south China’s Guangdong province extended their slide over the weakened amid decent consumption and limited arrivals. 

Zinc inventories in China fell over the weekend, propelled by a drop in Shanghai where downstream consumers were keen to replenish their stocks to wrap up the week. SMM data showed that social inventories of refined zinc ingots across Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong and Hebei stood at 283,600 mt as of Monday April 13, down 2,200 mt from Friday April 10 and 13,800 mt from Tuesday April 7.

Inventories of zinc ingot across Shanghai-bonded areas fell 800 mt in the week ended April 10 to 74,600 mt, showed SMM data.

SMM data showed that social inventories of copper cathode at major warehouses in Guangdong stood at 74,400 mt as of April 10, down 8,400 mt from Friday April 3. 

SHFE nonferrous metals closed mixed on Wednesday, as copper, aluminium, nickel and tin reversed a pullback at the open. Nickel jumped 1.9%, tin rose 0.6% and copper gained 0.4%, while aluminim dipped 0.1%, zinc fell 0.8% and lead dropped 1.2%.

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.

Prices of prebaked anode in China, an essential material used in aluminium smelting, will face further downside risks after April as a negative impact on demand from the COVID-19 outbreak continues to weigh on prebaked anode profits.

Shanghai base metals, except for tin, opened higher on Friday morning, as oil prices skyrocketed overnight on hopes that Saudi Arabia and Russia could reach a deal.

SHFE nonferrous metals, except for tin, relinquished the increase from the previous day, with lead leading the losses and ending down 1.51%