LIVE FUTURES REPORT 09/10: SHFE tin price outperforms with 1.4% gain, others little changed to down

The most-traded January tin contract was quoted at 136,440 yuan ($19,087) per tonne as at 9.15am Shanghai time, up by 1,940 yuan per tonne – or 1.4% – from Tuesday’s close of 134,500 yuan per tonne.

The other base metals were ranged between an increase of 0.1% in the most-traded November aluminium contract and a 0.7% drop in the most-traded November lead contract.

Analysts attributed tin’s standout performance relative to its peers this morning as a simple corrective rebound following a recent run of price weakness.

“Tin prices have been on a decline recently and the lows reached weren’t sustainable because the depressed prices had deterred miners and smelters from producing and selling the metal, so today’s rebound is understandable,” an analyst with Chinese brokerage Jinrui Futures told Fastmarkets.

“Further support for prices is coming from news of collective production cuts at Chinese tin smelters, which are looking to curtail a total of 20,200 tonnes of combined production,” an analyst in Shanghai said.

Early last month, a group of 14 tin smelters in China agreed to collectively cut production to support wallowing tin prices.

Elsewhere in the complex, copper continues to react poorly to the negative macroeconomic backdrop.

The red metal’s most-traded November contract slid to 46,640 yuan per tonne as at 09.15 am Shanghai time, a decline of 130 yuan per tonne – or 0.3% – from Tuesday’s closing price of 46,770 yuan per tonne.

Market sentiment has deteriorated on quickly diminishing hopes of a trade deal between the United States and China ahead of talks scheduled to get underway on Thursday after news earlier this week that the US was adding more Chinese companies to its so-called Entity List.

The US Commerce Department said on Monday that it was adding 28 Chinese organizations to the list, prohibiting them from doing business with US firms.

With the escalation in tensions coming just before high-level trade talks between the two sides resume on Thursday, investors are exercising a great deal of caution amid fears that the heightened tensions could derail a potential trade deal. This has seen a subdued performance by the base metals this morning.

Other highlights

• The dollar index, which gauges the strength of the US currency against a basket of foreign currencies, was up by 0.01% at 99.11 as at 9.15am Shanghai time.
• In data on Tuesday, China’s Caixin services purchasing managers’ index (PMI) fell to 51.3 in September from 52.1 previously.
• Also on Tuesday, the US’ core producer price index fell by 0.3% last month compared with August, when it rose by 0.3% month on month.
• In data on Wednesday, Jolts job openings and crude oil inventories from the US are of note.
• In addition, there are Eurogroup meetings throughout the day as well as speeches by Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell and Federal Open Market Committee member Esther George.