SMM Morning Comments: Crude Oil Rose while Ferrous Metals Dropped

SHANGHAI, Feb 25 (SMM) - The US dollar fell slightly in early trading today because investors believed that US sanctions on Russia were weaker than expected. Meanwhile, the market speculated that the US Fed will not raise interest rates sharply at the March meeting.

On the aspect of crude oil, as of 9: 54 a. m., US oil rose by 2.7%, while Brent Crude rose by 2.78%. The tense Russia-Ukraine conflict still kept the international crude oil futures on the rise today, even though the US indicated that it would continue to reserve oil, and the latest sanctions from the US yesterday did not include restricting Russian crude oil supply.

In the domestic metal market, there were gains and losses in early trading today, with SHFE nickel leading the decline by 0.79%, SHFE aluminium dropping slightly by 0.44,% and SHFE zinc falling by 0.36%. The rest metals slightly rose, with SHFE tin leading the increase by 0.62%, SHFE copper and lead rising slightly by about 0.3%.

Prices of all ferrous metals dropped. The prices of iron ore and rebar fell 2.28% and 2.19% respectively. The hot-rolled coil and stainless steel prices also fell more than 1%. The decline of coke and coking coal was slightly narrower than that of overnight, with coke dropping by 1.56% and coking coal dropping slightly by 0.23%.

On the overseas market, LME aluminium stopped rising and fell 1.49% in early trading, and LME nickel dropped 0.93%. LME Zinc fell by 0.88%. LME copper and lead rose slightly by about 0.4%.