The shortage of ore supply supported the price of SHFE zinc [SMM zinc morning comment]

Overnight, CPI data resumed its downward trend; gold hit a nearly one-month high, silver approached the $30 mark, and the three major U.S. stock indices all hit record highs; Hamas: Israel's revision of the mediator's ceasefire proposal led to a deadlock in negotiations; Houthi armed forces: attacked a U.S. warship and a ship named "Destiny" in the Red Sea; IEA: Lowered its forecast for oil demand growth in 2024 by 140,000 barrels/day to 1.1 million barrels/day; Buffett sold more than 110 million shares of Apple in the first quarter and established a position in Chubb Insurance; Russian President Putin arrived in Beijing by special plane; domestic gasoline and diesel were reduced by 235 yuan and 225 yuan per ton respectively; the China Securities Regulatory Commission issued the "Securities Market Program Trading Management Regulations (Trial)": Northbound program trading is included in reporting management; five departments launched the 2024 preferential new energy vehicle sales activities in rural areas.

LME zinc opened at $2997/mt overnight, touching a high and a low of $3054/mt and $2960.5/mt respectively. LME zinc closed down $5.5/mt or 0.18% at $2983/mt. The trading volume increased to 15002 lots, and open interest lost 3609 lots to 237,000 lots. LME zinc inventory fell by 75 tons to 250,875 tons, a decrease of 0.03%. There was a strong bearishness, but the US CPI data rekindled expectations of a rate cut.

The most active SHFE 2407 zinc contract fell to a low of 23575 yuan/mt after opening at 23850 yuan/mt, and finally closed at 23660 yuan/mt, down 345 yuan/mt or 1.44%. Trading volume was down to 100,000 lots, and open interest grew by 750 lots to 111,000 lots. The shortage of ore supply has not been alleviated, supporting the price of SHFE zinc. Subsequent attention will be paid to the integer mark of 23,500 yuan/ton.