US dollar falls for three consecutive days, base metals generally rise, SHFE tin and SHFE silver rise by over 1%, SHFE gold and alumina lead gains [SMM Midday Review]

SMM News on May 21:

Metal Market:

As of the midday close, domestic base metals mostly rose, with SHFE tin up 1.2%, SHFE zinc up 0.62%, SHFE aluminum up 0.57%, and SHFE nickel down 0.18%. SHFE lead and SHFE copper both rose less than 0.4%.

In addition, alumina rose 2.45%, lithium carbonate rose 0.43%, silicon metal fell 1.69%, and polysilicon rose 0.18%.

The ferrous metals series mostly fell, with iron ore up 0.35% and stainless steel up 0.31%. Rebar and HRC both dropped slightly. For coking coal and coke: coking coal fell 0.83%, and coke fell slightly.

In overseas metal markets, as of 11:46, LME metals rose across the board. LME copper rose 0.65%, LME aluminum rose 0.75%, LME zinc rose 0.52%, and LME nickel, LME lead, and LME tin all rose less than 0.4%.

In precious metals, as of 11:46, COMEX gold rose 0.75%, and COMEX silver rose 0.23%. Domestically, SHFE gold rose 2.71%, and SHFE silver rose 1.76%.

As of the midday close, the most-traded contract for the Europe-to-Asia container shipping futures fell 0.44%, closing at 2,275 points.

As of 11:46 on May 21, the midday futures market movements for some contracts were as follows:

》SMM Spot Metal Prices on May 21

Spot and Fundamentals

Zinc: The transaction price for mainstream brand 0# zinc in the Ningbo market was around 22,790-22,925 yuan/mt. The mainstream brand in Ningbo was quoted at a premium of 265 yuan/mt against the 2506 contract and at a premium of 60 yuan/mt against Shanghai spot. The mainstream in Ningbo was quoted against the 2506 contract... 》Click for details

Macro Front

Domestic:

[Head of National Energy Administration Meets with Director of Singapore Energy Market Authority] According to the National Energy Administration, on May 19, Wang Hongzhi, Director of the National Energy Administration, met in Beijing with Poon Kok Keong, Director of the Singapore Energy Market Authority, who was visiting. The two sides had an in-depth exchange of views on advancing cooperation in new energy between China and Singapore. Wang Hongzhi stated that energy is an important area of pragmatic cooperation between China and Singapore. The two countries maintain close communication on bilateral and multilateral platforms, with mutual investments by enterprises and extensive cooperation in power, oil and gas, energy storage, and renewable energy. There is significant potential for future cooperation, and the prospects are very broad. The National Energy Administration of China is willing to work with Singapore to build on past achievements, further leverage the role of existing cooperation mechanisms, strengthen dialogue and communication, and jointly advance cooperation in new energy to a new level. (Financial Associated Press)

[PBOC Conducts Net Injection of 65 Billion Yuan in Open Market Operations] The People's Bank of China (PBOC) conducted 157 billion yuan in 7-day reverse repo operations today, with an operating interest rate of 1.40%, unchanged from the previous rate. With 92 billion yuan of 7-day reverse repo operations maturing today, a net injection of 65 billion yuan was achieved.

►The central parity rate of the RMB exchange rate in the interbank foreign exchange market on May 21 was 7.1937 yuan per US dollar.

US dollar:

As of 11:46, the US dollar index extended its decline from the previous two trading days, falling by 0.39% to 99.62. US Fed officials stated on Tuesday that an increase in US tariffs would lead to higher prices, but it remains uncertain whether the resulting inflationary impact would be temporary or more persistent. St. Louis Fed President Alberto Musalem said at the Minnesota Economic Club that easing trade tensions would keep the labour market strong and inflation continuing to pull back towards the Fed's 2% target. Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack said that current trade developments could lead to stagflation, although other government policies might offset this impact. Market bets indicate that the Fed is expected to resume interest rate cuts in October. Currently, the market's focus is on a key vote planned by the US House of Representatives for this weekend. Republican leaders in the House said they would continue to advance the tax bill despite the uncertain outlook.

Other currencies:

Pierre Wunsch, a member of the European Central Bank's Governing Council, said that the eurozone economy might require "mildly supportive" interest rate levels to ensure that inflation does not fall below the target level after a series of shocks. The Belgian central bank governor said in an interview on Tuesday that price pressures could be weaker than previously expected due to the impact of US tariff measures on market confidence, a stronger euro, and lower energy costs. Therefore, he believes it is "reasonable" for the market to expect the deposit rate to be slightly below 2% by the end of the year. Wunsch said that two more interest rate cuts of 25 basis points each would bring the rate down to 1.75%, implying that the policy rate would be "mildly supportive". (Huitong Finance)

Macro:

Data such as the UK's annual CPI rate for April, the UK's annual core CPI rate for April, and the UK's annual retail price index for April will be released today. In addition, it is worth noting that: St. Louis Fed President Alberto Musalem, a 2025 FOMC voter, will deliver a speech on the economic outlook and monetary policy; 2027 FOMC voter Bostic will chair a meeting, and 2026 FOMC voter Hammack and 2027 FOMC voter Daly will deliver keynote speeches.

Crude oil:

As of 11:46, crude oil futures rose, with US oil up 1.56% and Brent oil up 1.48%. The market is concerned that supply from major oil-producing regions in the Middle East may be disrupted. Iran is the third-largest oil producer among the member countries of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
　　
However, there are still signs of improvement on the crude oil supply side. The American Petroleum Institute (API) released data showing that US crude oil inventories increased last week, while gasoline and distillate inventories declined. According to the API report, US crude oil inventories rose by 2.499 million barrels for the week ended May 16. Gasoline inventories fell by 3.238 million barrels, and distillate inventories decreased by 1.401 million barrels.
　　
The market will also focus on the official US oil inventory data to be released later on Wednesday by the Energy Information Administration (EIA). A survey showed that, on average, the nine institutions surveyed predicted that US crude oil inventories would decline by approximately 1.3 million barrels for the week ended May 16. (Webstock Inc.)

Spot Market Overview:

►Downstream buyers start restocking after premiums continue to decline; overall trading activity is better than yesterday. [SMM South China Spot Copper]

►Ningbo Zinc: Limited market supply; traders continue to refuse to budge on prices. [SMM Midday Review]

►[SMM Nickel Midday Review] Nickel prices continued to fluctuate rangebound on May 21.

Midday reviews of other metal spot prices will be updated later. Please refresh to view.