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The dollar index, which gauges the strength of the US dollar against a basket of foreign currencies, was down by 0.02% at 97.37 as at 10.38 am Shanghai time. The index had been at 98.31 at roughly the same time on Monday.
Meanwhile, growing optimism that a partial trade deal between China and the United States would be concluded soon has also boosted sentiment in global markets. Reports on Wednesday suggested that US negotiators expected a phase one trade deal to be signed before December 15.
But market participants seemed reluctant to overreact to trade-related news, keeping gains across the SHFE base metals muted this morning.
Nickel outperformed its peers on the SHFE in the morning trading session; the alloying metal’s most-traded February contract rose to 105,760 yuan ($15,006) per tonne as at 10.23am Shanghai time, up by 1,820 yuan per tonne – or 1.8% – from the previous day’s close of 103,940 yuan per tonne.
The rebound in nickel comes after a week of declines and the most-traded February contract remains well below its close of 109,330 yuan on November 29.
Gains across the rest of the complex were more marginal: January copper was up by 90 yuan per tonne – or 0.2% – at 47,380 yuan per tonne while January zinc and lead were both up by 0.1% at 18,015 yuan per tonne and 15,080 yuan per tonne respectively.
January tin dipped by 0.1% to 138,950 yuan per tonne while February aluminium was the worst performer with a 0.5% drop to 13,760 yuan per tonne, with the latter overshadowed by a weak market conditions which has seen short sellers emerge.
“The aluminium market has been negatively impacted by China’s weak economy this year and demand [for the light metal] has been really weak. It is reasonable for investors to sell now because the price may continue to fall later on,” a trader source told Fastmarkets this morning.
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