Tracking the rally seen on the London Metal Exchange in the previous session, aluminium prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange pushed higher during Asian morning trading on Friday.
A bout of panic buying in response to the sanctions placed on Russian aluminium producer UC Rusal pushed the LME’s three-month aluminium price to a 10-year high of $2,331 per tonne on Thursday.
Check Metal Bulletin’s live futures report here.
| LME snapshot at 02.53am London time | ||
| Latest three-month LME Prices | ||
| Price ($ per tonne) | Change since yesterday’s close ($) | |
| Copper | 6,837.50 | 16.5 |
| Aluminium | 2,290.50 | -34.5 |
| Lead | 2,342.50 | 9.5 |
| Zinc | 3,124 | 30 |
| Tin | 20,965 | 65 |
| Nickel | 13,975 | 260 |
| SHFE snapshot at 09.53am Shanghai time | ||
| Most-traded SHFE contracts | ||
| Price (yuan/t) | Change since yesterday’s close (yuan) | |
| Copper | 50,530 | -90 |
| Aluminium | 14,575 | 250 |
| Zinc | 23,565 | -60 |
| Lead | 18,305 | -170 |
| Tin | 143,480 | 320 |
| Nickel | 103,890 | 1,740 |
Russian nickel producer Norilsk Nickel (Nornickel), which is partly owned by UC Rusal, is unlikely to be affected by sanctions imposed by the United States and thus its production should continue to be deliverable to the LME, legal and trade sources said on Thursday.
Rio Tinto plc is in a position to take advantage of a current squeeze in aluminium supply in the US, through both its Canadian smelters and other foreign supply, according to the top executive of the company’s aluminium division.
Some copper scrap and brass scrap prices in the US have increased while competition for certain grades remains fierce.
Chinese molybdenum prices weakened this past week despite healthy demand from downstream markets.
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