SMM Zinc Market Morning Comment (Apr 18)

Overnight, LME zinc opened at $2,751.5/mt, and hit a low of $2,741.5/mt, but moved up to a high of $2,842/mt due to short selling, and finally closed up $67/mt or 2.43% at $2,825.5/mt. Trading volume decreased to 12,481 lots. Open interest dipped by 9,412 lots to 241,000 lots. LME zinc prices ceased falling and hiked, gaining supports from the 10-day moving average. Overnight LME zinc stocks shrank by 275 mt or 0.11% to 257,975 mt. Moreover, pick-up of macro sentiment, rising ferrous metal prices, tight zinc ore supply and low processing fees also kept offering a boost to LME zinc prices.

The most-traded SHFE 2406 zinc contract opened at 22,700 yuan/mt on Wednesday, increasing to 22,875 yuan/mt after a brief drop, and then moved up to a high of 22,990 yuan/mt, owing to short selling, and finally closed up 210 yuan/mt or 0.94% at 22,665 yuan/mt. Trading volume decreased to 137,000 lots. Open interests shrank 1,215 lots to 120,000 lots.

SHFE zinc prices made gains after a slight dip, as the NDRC’s statement on start-up of all additional government bond issuance projects before the end of June this year injected stimulants into market demand.