LIVE FUTURES REPORT 10/11: SHFE base metals prices stronger across the board; lead outperforms

The most-traded December lead contract on the SHFE stood at 19,190 yuan ($2,891) per tonne as of 10:56am Shanghai time, up by 1.8% or 330 yuan.

Lead was the outperformer this morning as the prospect of increased demand ahead of China’s winter season coupled with tightened supply amid a crackdown on pollution in the country has boosted prices.

The winter season in China, from mid-November to mid-March, is traditionally a time of high lead consumption.

“[There is a] supply shortage in the Shanghai market, with very few offers heard. Many bids have been heard from end-users, though there have been few transactions,” China’s Guotai Jun’an Futures said on Friday.

For the first seven months of the year, the International Lead and Zinc Study Group put the refined lead market in a 109,000-ton deficit, compared with a surplus of 42,000 tons in the same period in 2016.

Copper rises after PBOC injection

• The most-traded January copper contract rose 190 yuan or 0.4% to 53,420 yuan per tonne.
• Market sentiment has picked up after the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) injected a net 50 billion yuan into the country’s financial institutions on Thursday.

Rest of complex higher

• The SHFE most-traded January aluminum contract rose 30 yuan to 15,505 yuan per tonne.
• The SHFE most-traded January zinc contract was up 105 yuan to 25,600 yuan per tonne.
• The SHFE most-traded January nickel contract strengthened 100 yuan to 99,210 yuan per tonne.
• The SHFE most-traded January tin contract increased 1,600 yuan to 143,680 yuan per tonne.

Currency moves and data releases

• The dollar index was down by 0.02% at 94.51 as of 12:52pm Shanghai time – the index had reached a high of 95.15 on Tuesday, a level it last reached on October 27.
• In other commodities, the Brent crude oil spot price dipped $0.03 to $63.76 per barrel and the Texas light sweet crude oil spot price was down $0.02 at $57 per barrel.
• In equities, the Shanghai Composite index was 0.05% lower at 3426.22.
• The economic agenda is light today with industrial production data out across Europe and the United Kingdom, with the UK’s manufacturing production and goods trade balance also due.