SHFE nonferrous metals rose across the board on Friday, as market sentiment was rallied after China’s Ministry of Finance pledged to make an early allocation of the special-purpose bond quotas for transportation infrastructure construction. 

Stocks of copper across Shanghai bonded area declined for the second consecutive week as of April 3, falling 5,200 mt from a week ago to 333,800 mt, showed SMM data.

Inventories of zinc ingot across Shanghai-bonded areas stood at 75,400 mt as of Friday April 3, unchanged from a week ago, showed SMM data.

Social inventories of copper cathode in south China’s Guangdong province continued to trend downsides, falling for the fourth consecutive week as of Friday April 3. 

Crude oil prices jumped on Thursday, following their biggest-ever quarterly losses, as US President Donald Trump said he expected Saudi Arabia and Russia to reach a deal soon to end their oil price war.

Inventories of aluminium billet in China fell for the fourth consecutive week as of April 2, due to greater deliveries and reduced arrivals.  

The impact from the coronavirus pandemic on China’s aluminium exports is mounting as greater part of the world comes under lockdown to stop the spread of the virus. On Wednesday, Vietnam, a major buyer of Chinese aluminium, entered into a 15-day period of nationwide isolation. Residents are required to stay at home and can only go outside for “essential needs,” such as food, medicines, urgent medical services or to go to work at companies permitted by the government to remain open.

Social inventories of long steel (including wire rods and rebar) in Guangzhou continued to trend lower in the week ended April 1, falling 2.1% to 2.25 million mt, 26.01% higher than the same period after the Lunar New Year holiday last year.

Shanghai base metals opened mostly higher on Wednesday morning, as Beijing said that it will roll out a set of fiscal and financial policies to expand domestic demand, assist businesses reopening, sustain employment, and help all types of businesses to weather this difficult time.

SMM data showed that stocks across eight consumption areas in China, including SHFE warrants, decreased 3,000 mt from last Thursday March 26 to 1.664 million mt as of Monday March 30.