High Uncertainty in the Middle East: LME Lead Ends Four-Day Winning Streak [SMM Lead Morning Update]

Published: Jul 14, 2026 09:01
[SMM Lead Morning News: High uncertainty in the Middle East situation, LME lead ends four-day winning streak] SMM, July 14 – Overnight, LME lead opened at $1,892.5/mt. Affected by geopolitical risks outside China, market risk aversion sentiment heated up, and LME lead quickly fell to $1,873/mt after the opening...

SMM July 14 News:

Overnight, LME lead opened at $1892.5/mt. Due to geopolitical risks outside China, risk-off sentiment heightened in the market, and LME lead quickly plunged to $1873/mt after the opening. Subsequently, from the Asian session to the European session, LME lead traded in the range of $1870–1880/mt for an extended period, until it fell again toward the late-night close, hitting a session low of $1866.5/mt, a nearly half-month low. Finally, LME lead closed at $1873/mt, down 1.32%.

Overnight, the most-traded SHFE lead 2608 contract opened at 15920 yuan/mt. At the beginning of the session, a large number of market positions were rolled over for contract rollover, and SHFE lead moved to around 15940 yuan/mt. However, due to lead ingot inventory buildup, SHFE lead continued to drift lower, with a session low of 15845 yuan/mt, finally closing at 15860 yuan/mt, down 0.38%; open interest was 65,368 lots, down 5,583 lots from the previous trading day. In addition, the SHFE lead 2608 contract saw a large rollover to the 2609 contract, and attention should be paid to the contract rollover of the most-traded contract.

Data Source Statement: Except for publicly available information, all other data are processed by SMM based on publicly available information, market communication, and relying on SMM's internal database model. They are for reference only and do not constitute decision-making recommendations.

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