SHFE Zinc Prices Gain 1.15% on the Week

SHANGHAI, Apr 17 (SMM) - Zinc ingot social inventory across seven major Chinese markets rose to 150,000 mt last week. China's March CPI recorded 0.7%, lower than expectations, and March PPI fell 2.5% year-on-year as anticipated, suggesting that the recovery of Chinese consumption was relatively mild. However, the operating rates of downstream companies stood low on poor demand. In the meantime, overseas demand was less likely to improve. Therefore, SHFE zinc prices fluctuated with occasional drops. Then the prices rebounded following the growing LME zinc prices but later moved rangebound due to poor domestic downstream consumption. As the weekend approached, affected by overseas inflation data and the fall in the US dollar, SHFE zinc prices rose higher. Spot transactions were relatively better, driving down the social inventory and further pushing up zinc prices. As of 15: 00 last Friday, SHFE zinc prices closed 22,395 yuan/mt, up 255 yuan/mt or 1.15% on the week.