SHFE nonferrous metals, except for aluminium and nickel, closed lower on Thursday, following after they opened mostly lower Wednesday, as concerns of the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic continued to grip investors.

Nonferrous metals traded lower for the most part on Thursday morning as comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and downbeat economic data out of the US and Europe weighed on investor sentiment.

The oil market collapse weighed on investors sentiment for a second straight day.

SHFE nonferrous metals, except for lead and nickel, closed lower on Tuesday, as oil prices plunged after the May US crude futures prices turned negative for the first time in history overnight.

SHFE nonferrous metals opened higher across the board on Friday morning, recovering some losses Thursday, as investors caution eased amid US tentative steps to restart the economy and progress on the fight against the coronavirus.

SHFE base metals traded mixed on Wednesday morning, after a broad rally on Tuesday which was prompted by lifted market sentiment following better-than-expected China March trade data.

Inventory pressure of lithium carbonate, a raw material for digital and power batteries, may continue to mount in April as Chinese lithium salt producers have not yet planned to wind down production. Elevated inventories together with limited downsides in lithium carbonate prices with support from costs, however, may trigger output cut in the second quarter. 

SMM surveyed 41 major aluminium processors in 12 provinces and found that their average operating rate dipped 0.6 percentage point on a weekly basis to 74.4% last week.

China’s production of stainless steel in March dropped 13.2% from a year ago, showed SMM data, amid the coronavirus pandemic.

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.