[Al] CBI Morning Review - 2009/7/24 Aluminum Market

SHANGHAI, July 24 (CBI China) -- The U.S. Department of Labor announced on Thursday that the number of initial applications for unemployment benefits in the US during last week increased by 30,000 to 554,000, while the market predicted it would increase to 557,000. The US existing home sales in June have risen for three consecutive months, up 3.6% to an annual rate of 4.89 million, hitting a record high since October 2008, and better than economists’ prediction of 4.85 million.

    The positive home sales in the US stimulated the market expectations on metal demand. In this context, overnight LME base metal prices rose sharply, and LME aluminum price showed the strongest performance, and closed at USD 1,780/mt, and the inventories declined by 1,825mt to 4,553,650mt. The significant increases in crude oil prices last night were also an important factor for rising aluminum price. SHFE aluminum price reported worse performance than LME aluminum price due to weak market fundamentals. SHFE aluminum price received downward pressure around RMB 14,000/mt, and will remain high in the short term.

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