The most-traded SHFE aluminum contract 2406 opened at 20,625 yuan/ton on Friday night. The market was dominated by bullish sentiment. After rising, the bulls made profits and left the market, and then showed sideways trading. The highest price was 20,770 yuan/ton, the lowest price was 20,570 yuan/ton, and finally closed at 20,670 yuan/ton, down 175 yuan/ton from the previous trading day, with a trading volume of 106,000 lots. On Friday, LME aluminum futures for March opened at $2,572.5/ton. The market trend was relatively stable, with a correction as the main feature. Finally, LME aluminum price closed at $2,560.5/ton, down $3/ton during the day, a drop of 0.12%.
On the macro front, the initial value of the S&P Global Manufacturing PMI in the US in April was 49.9, lower than market expectations. The resilience of the US economy loosened, the GDP growth rate in the first quarter was lower than expected, and the expectation of interest rate cuts fell again. Domestically, GDP grew by 5.3% YoY in the first quarter, but recent photovoltaic installation data performed poorly, depressing market expectations. In addition, amid international trade frictions, the exports environment for aluminum semis will deteriorate in the future. On the fundamentals, the domestic aluminum supply maintained a growth trend, the imported primary aluminum suffered severe losses, the expectation of a decline in the impact of primary aluminum imports strengthened, the downstream operation is generally stable, and the downstream enthusiasm for replenishing inventory at low prices is still acceptable. The spot aluminum inventory dropped during the week, providing certain support for aluminum prices. At the same time, the operating rate at domestic mine is unlikely to improve, and the alumina market prices swung on a strong note, somehow supporting aluminum prices. The aluminum market prices fluctuated amid bullish and bearish factors.