SMM Evening Comments (Feb 2)

SHANGHAI, Feb 2 (SMM) – SHFE nickel led the gains of base metals today with an over 2% rise while SHFE lead was up close to 1%. Copper increased by 0.72% and zinc was up 0.45%. Tin, however, edged down 0.6%.

The ferrous complex saw coking coal jump almost 3% whereas coke was up close to 2%. Hot-rolled coil rose 1.6%, iron ore went up 1% and rebar edged up 0.51%.

Copper: The SHFE 1803 copper contract touched a high at 53,670 yuan/mt today as investors added their long best in the afternoon trading session. However, we still see pressure formed by several moving averages and we expect it to trade rangebound in the short term.

Aluminium: We see SHFE aluminium to be stable at 14,200-14,650 yuan/mt next week as sluggish fundamentals continue.

Zinc: SHFE zinc gave back all its gains registered overnight in the morning but stronger LME performance has stabilised the movement in the afternoon. It may be difficult for SHFE zinc to go back to the 27,000 yuan/mt level due to sluggish physical demand ahead of Chinese New Year. We expect it to trade around the five-day moving average tonight.

Tin: We see support at 147,000 yuan/mt for SHFE tin as it continued to go lower.

For editorial queries, please contact Daisy Tseng at daisy@smm.cn 
For more information on how to access our research reports, please email service.en@smm.cn