Spot market trading is mediocre, with lead prices in the doldrums [SMM Morning Lead News]

SMM April 28:

On Friday, LME lead opened at $1,961.5/mt, touched a high of $1,965/mt in early trading, and then fluctuated downward due to the strong performance of the US dollar index. LME lead fell to a low of $1,941/mt in the closing session and closed at $1,945/mt, down 0.66%.

On Friday evening, the most-traded SHFE lead 2506 contract opened at 16,940 yuan/mt, touched a high of 16,960 yuan/mt in early trading, and then fluctuated downward due to the weak performance of LME lead. The low during the session was 16,825 yuan/mt, and it closed at 16,855 yuan/mt, down 0.53%.

Among primary lead smelters, there were both production increases and decreases, and supply changes were relatively small. Meanwhile, the spread between futures and spot prices of lead widened, increasing suppliers' intention to transfer to delivery warehouse. Attention should be paid to changes in social inventory of lead ingots next week. Spot transactions are expected to remain at a discount. For secondary lead, due to factors such as losses and production cuts, the price discount of secondary refined lead gradually narrowed, and even inverted against primary lead. It is expected that secondary lead enterprises may stand firm on quotes and sell before the profit and loss situation improves. On the consumption side, downstream enterprises plan to take holidays during the Labor Day period. Due to weak end-use consumption, producers have purchased relatively small volumes of inventory before the holiday, and there is no expectation of a significant improvement in spot transactions.