SMM Evening Comments (Apr 9): Shanghai nonferrous metals ended mixed after the S&P 500 on Wall Street cruised to yet another record closing high overnight

SHANGHAI, Apr 9 (SMM) – SHFE nonferrous metals closed mixed on Friday April 9 after the S&P 500 on Wall Street cruised to yet another record closing high overnight.

Nickel, the best performer, rose 0.36%, zinc advanced 0.14% and copper went up 0.06%, while aluminium edged down 0.03%, tin fell 0.63% and lead weakened 0.27%.

The ferrous complex fell across the board. Hot-rolled coil went down 0.73%, iron ore shed 0.41%, and rebar fell 0.78%.

Copper: The most-traded SHFE 2106 copper contract finished the day 0.06% higher at 66,820 yuan/mt. Open interest rose 3,383 lots to 124,000 lots.

Federal Reserve Chairman Powell once again downplayed the risk of runaway inflation and promised to restore the glory of the US economy. If inflation expectations are significantly higher than expected, the Fed will respond. At the same time, European Central Bank President Lagarde said that ambitious and coordinated financial support is still crucial, and premature withdrawal of policy support may delay recovery. European Central Bank officials believe that the recent tightening of financing conditions is too early for the euro zone. On the data side, the number of initial jobless claims unexpectedly rose last week, highlighting the uneven recovery of the labor market. The 30-year mortgage rate fell to 3.13%, the first decline since January. The Fed's speech once again soothed the market sentiment, and the US dollar dropped to the 92 mark, which gave certain support to copper prices. In the near term, the market sentiment was relatively stable, and copper prices continued to fluctuate.

US PPI annual rate in March and market sentiment fluctuations will continue to be monitored tonight.

Aluminium: The most-liquid SHFE 2105 aluminium contract finished the day 0.03% lower at 17,485 yuan/mt. Open interest fell 4,070 lots to 186,313 lots. Driven by the downstream demand, social stocks of aluminium ingot continued to decline as scheduled. Without the disturbance of unexpected factors, SHFE aluminium continued to keep fluctuating rangebound at high.

Zinc: The most-active SHFE 2105 zinc contract closed up 0.14% at 21,915yuan/mt. Open interest fell 4,910 lots to 79,436 lots. On fundamentals, Benchmark TCs of Tektronix Resources and Korea Korea Korea Asia Lead and Zinc Concentrate Association decreased year on year, while domestic zinc concentrate TCs still had downward trend, which is expected to support zinc prices. However, the number of initial jobless claims in the US unexpectedly rose last week, highlighting the imbalance in the recovery of the labor market, and it is still necessary to guard against macro pressure. The position along the BOLL line should continue to be monitored tonight, and it is expected that zinc prices will still fluctuate strongly.

Nickel: The most-traded SHFE 2106 nickel contract ended the day 0.36% higher at 126,170 yuan/mt today. Open interest fell 7,517 lots to 163,288 lots. Inventories of refined nickel in the Shanghai bonded areas decreased 300 mt from a week ago and stood at 10,000 mt as of April 9, showed SMM data.

Lead: The most-traded SHFE 2105 lead contract ended the day 0.27% lower at 14,900 yuan/mt. Open interest fell 187 lots to 45,050 lots. Social inventories of lead ingots across Shanghai, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Tianjin rose by nearly 1,000 mt from last Friday April 2 to 57,300 mt as of Apr 9. This was up 1,200 mt from Tuesday April 6.

Tin: The most-liquid SHFE 2106 tin contract fell to a session low of 180,850 yuan/mt and finished the day 0.63% lower at 181,560 yuan/mt today. Open interest fell 1,037 lots to 32,889 lots.