LIVE FUTURES REPORT 11/12: SHFE base metals prices broadly recover after Monday’s weakness

The most-traded February copper contract on the SHFE traded at 49,150 yuan ($7,117) per tonne as at 10.41am Shanghai time, up by 0.5% or 220 yuan per tonne from Monday’s close.

Reports that top Chinese and US trade officials spoke on Tuesday, signaling that trade talks between the two countries continue despite a diplomatic row over the arrest of Huawei Technologies chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou last week, sent a wave of positivity through the market, fueling a bout of short covering across a number of commodities.

According to a statement from China’s Ministry of Commerce, Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer spoke by phone on Tuesday morning Shanghai time.

“Both sides exchanged views on putting into effect the consensus reached by the two countries’ leaders at their meeting, and pushing forward the timetable and roadmap for the next stage of economic and trade consultations work,” the ministry said.

“Sentiment has perked up across a wide berth of asset classes as we’ve been waiting for a defined blueprint for trade truce to shake market out of its current funk,” Stephen Innes, Oanda’s head of trading for Asia Pacific, said in a morning note.

Providing further support for the base metals was a softer dollar; the dollar index, at 97.10 as at 11.32am Shanghai time, is down from a weekly high of 97.24 reached on Monday.

The other SHFE base metals, bar lead and tin, were all up from their closing prices on Monday.

Base metals prices

• The SHFE January aluminium edged up by 30 yuan per tonne to 13,665 yuan per tonne.
• The SHFE February zinc contract price fell by 85 yuan per tonne to 21,000 yuan per tonne.
• The SHFE January lead contract price was down by 75 yuan per tonne to 18,455 yuan per tonne.
• The SHFE May nickel contract price was up by 20 yuan per tonne to 89,330 yuan per tonne.
• The SHFE January tin contract price fell by 330 yuan per tonne to 144,390 yuan per tonne.

Currency moves and data releases

• The dollar index was down by 0.12% to 97.10 as of 11.32am Shanghai time.
• In equities, the Shanghai Composite was up 0.28% to 2,591.75 as of 11.30am Shanghai time.
• In data on Monday, the United Kingdom’s monthly gross domestic product (GDP) release showed the economy grew by 0.1% in October from the prior month, which was in line with expectations. UK manufacturing production fell by 0.9% in the same comparison, against the forecast 0.0% reading.
• On Tuesday, we have employment figures from the UK, economic sentiment readings from the German-based ZEW think-tank and US releases that include the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) small business index as well as the November core and headline producer price indices (PPI).