LME zinc opened at $2486.5/mt last Friday evening, and hit a high of $2543/mt before closing at $2531.5/mt, an increase of $48.5/mt or 1.95%. The trading volume decreased to 10459 lots, and open interest decreased 1124 to 204,000 lots. LME zinc rose for five consecutive days last week. LME zinc stocks fell by 1575 mt or 0.75% to 208475 mt. Last Friday, boosted by macroeconomic sentiment due to expectations of an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve.
The most-traded SHFE 2402 zinc contract opened at 20895 yuan/mt last Friday and fell to 20770 yuan/mt. It eventually settled up 100 yuan/mt or 0.48% at 20890 yuan/mt. Trading volume were 43806 lots, and open interest increased by 2381 lots to 75281 lots. Driven by optimism about macro interest rate cuts, the trend of Shanghai zinc is relatively strong. However, domestic consumption is still in the seasonal off-season, and imported zinc ingots are flowing in, increasing pressure on the supply side, limiting the upward space for zinc prices.
