Today, the most-traded BC copper 2601 contract opened at 83,060 yuan/mt. During the night session, after opening, it initially touched a low of 82,960 yuan/mt. During the day session, after opening, the center of copper prices fluctuated upward, approaching the session high of 84,940 yuan/mt near the close, and finally settled at 84,490 yuan/mt, up 1,810 yuan/mt, a gain of 2.19%. Open interest reached 4,584 lots, an increase of 218 lots from the previous trading day, while trading volume reached 9,779 lots, an increase of 3,085 lots from the previous trading day. On the macro front, US initial jobless claims last week far exceeded expectations, recording the largest weekly increase since the pandemic, putting the US dollar index under pressure and closing lower, which benefited copper prices. Meanwhile, a phosphate fertiliser symposium held in Beijing reached a consensus on "domestic priority" for key raw materials such as sulphuric acid, heating up expectations of smelting supply contraction, further supporting copper prices. On the fundamentals side, supply side, arrivals of imported material were tight, while domestic material arrivals were normal, leading to overall tight supply; demand side, consumption sentiment marginally improved after copper prices stabilized.
SHFE copper contract 2601 settled at 94,080 yuan/mt. Based on the BC copper 2601 contract price of 84,490 yuan/mt, its post-tax price is 95,474 yuan/mt, resulting in a price spread of -1,394 yuan/mt between the SHFE copper 2601 contract and the BC copper contract. The spread remained inverted and widened compared to the previous day.
