SMM Evening Comments (Aug 17): Shanghai nonferrous metals rose across the board, zinc and nickel surged more than 2%

Published: Aug 17, 2020 17:34

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SHFE nonferrous metals closed higher across the board on Monday August 17 as the vaccine research of Covid-19 made some progress.

SHANGHAI, Aug 17 (SMM) –SHFE nonferrous metals closed higher across the board on Monday August 17 as the vaccine research of Covid-19 made some progress.

Nickel led the gains on Monday and ended up 2.47%. Zinc advanced 2.27%, lead grew 0.62%, aluminium increased 0.28%, copper went up 1.68% and tin expanded 0.47%.

SMM data showed that social inventories of refined zinc ingots across Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong and Hebei rose 2,100 from last Friday August 14 to 177,200 mt as of Monday August 17. The stocks were down 5,500 mt from last Monday August 10.

The ferrous complex also traded higher. Iron ore added 0.36%, hot-rolled coil increased 0.71% and rebar rose 1.22%.

Copper: The most-traded SHFE 2009 copper contract fell rapidly to a session low of 50,040 yuan/mt after opening as investors added their short positions, and finished the day 1.68% higher at 50,730 yuan/mt. The continued loose monetary policy boosted the market, and bullion continued to rise, supporting copper prices. Whether the contract could maintain its upward trend will come under scrutiny tonight.

Aluminium: The most-liquid SHFE 2009 aluminium contract finished the day 0.28% higher at 14,405 yuan/mt Open interest lost 4,223 lots to 114,000 lots. The contract is expected to move rangebound in the short term.

Zinc: The most-active SHFE 2009 contract fell to an intraday low of 19,270 yuan/mt, before rebounding to finish the day 2.27% higher at 19,790 yuan/mt. Open interest increased 9,188 lots to 89,172 lots. Whether the contract could maintain its upward trend will come under scrutiny tonight.

Nickel: The most-traded SHFE 2010 nickel contract ended 2.47% higher at 115,950 yuan/mt today. Whether the contract could break above 116,000 yuan/mt will be monitored tonight.

Lead: The most-active SHFE 2009 lead contract closed up 0.62% higher at 16,200 yuan/mt. The contract is expected to fluctuate range-bound in the short term. Whether the contract could maintain its upward trend will come under scrutiny tonight.

Tin: The most-liquid SHFE 2010 tin contract climbed to an intraday high of 144,140 yuan/mt as investors added their long positions, ending the day 0.47% higher at 142,860 yuan/mt. Pressure above is seen from the 10-day moving averages of 144,200 yuan/mt.

Evening comments Copper Nickel Lead Tin Aluminium Zinc

Data Source Statement: Except for publicly available information, all other data are processed by SMM based on publicly available information, market communication, and relying on SMM's internal database model. They are for reference only and do not constitute decision-making recommendations.

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