SHANGHAI, Mar 20 (SMM) - LME copper prices closed at $8613/mt last Friday evening, up 0.93%. Trading volume was 16,000 lots and open interest stood at 246,000 lots. The most active SHFE 2305 copper contract finished at 66,910 yuan/mt last Friday evening, up 0.33%. Trading volume was 33,000 lots, and open stood at 146,000 lots.
On the macro front, the stock prices of Credit Suisse in Europe and the First Republic Bank of the United States fell further. The market still has concerns about the banking crisis and is more worried about the economic recession caused by the tightening monetary policy.
On the fundamentals, as of Friday March 17, SMM copper inventories in major Chinese markets decreased 36,200 mt from last Monday to 226,200 mt, down 44,900 mt from the two Fridays ago. This is up 29,600 mt from pre-CNY level. Specifically, compared with last Monday, inventories in most of the regions were destocked, mainly due to the sharp drop in copper prices last week, which significantly boosted the enthusiasm for downstream procurement. This resulted in an increase in outbound volumes. In addition, the import window opened last week, and it is expected that some goods will flow into the domestic market from the bonded area this week, which will grew spot cargoes market. In terms of prices, Europe and the United States are urgently combating the banking crisis, and market concerns eased. Copper prices have been restored due to the impact of macroeconomics. It is expected copper prices will move narrowly.
