SMM Evening Comments (Apr 23): Shanghai nonferrous metals ended mixed, nickel fell 0.22%

SHANGHAI, Apr 23 (SMM) – SHFE nonferrous metals closed mixed on Friday April 23 with investors monitoring a slew of economic data and corporate earnings.

Aluminium, the best performer, rose 0.99%, lead advanced 0.26% and copper went up 0.35%, while zinc edged down 0.21%, tin fell 0.14% and nickel weakened 0.22%.

The ferrous complex rose across the board. Iron ore increased 1.19%, rebar rose 1.67%, and hot-rolled coil climbed 0.85%.

Copper: The most-traded SHFE 2106 copper contract finished the day 0.35% higher at 69,440 yuan/mt. Open interest rose 2,245 lots to 177,926 lots. Stocks of copper in Shanghai bonded areas increased on larger arrivals. SMM data showed that the stocks rose 6,200 mt from the prior week to 389,700 mt as of Friday April 23.

Aluminium: The most-liquid SHFE 2106 aluminium contract finished the day 0.99% higher at 18,355 yuan/mt. Open interest rose 27,612 lots to 298,682 lots.

Zinc: The most-active SHFE 2106 zinc contract closed down 0.21% at 21,380 yuan/mt. Open interest rose 4,204 lots to 95,869 lots. Downstream restocked at low prices, and zinc stocks fell 18,700 mt, which is expected to support zinc prices. However, TCs went up slightly, which was difficult to sustain. The contract will test support from 60-day moving average tonight, and it is expected that zinc prices will keep fluctating.

Nickel: The most-traded SHFE 2106 nickel contract ended the day 0.22% lower at 120,240 yuan/mt today. Open interest fell 11,734 lots to 164,961 lots. Inventories of refined nickel in the Shanghai bonded areas remained unchanged from a week ago and stood at 9,300 mt as of April 23, showed SMM data.

Lead: The most-traded SHFE 2106 lead contract ended the day 0.26% higher at 15,300 yuan/mt. Open interest fell 3,479 lots to 16,451 lots. Operating rates across lead-acid battery producers in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hubei and Hebei provinces dropped 0.67 percentage point from the previous week to 75% as of Friday April 23.

Tin: The most-liquid SHFE 2106 tin contract fell to a session low of 181,740 yuan/mt and finished the day 0.14% lower at 183,730 yuan/mt today. Open interest fell 1,516 lots to 29,588 lots.