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LIVE FUTURES REPORT 11/02: SHFE base metals strengthen amid fresh PBOC cash injection

Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, with the exception of that for zinc, rose during the morning trading session on Tuesday February 11 after China’s central bank pumped in 900 billion yuan ($129 billion) into the country’s financial system a day earlier.

February 11, 2020
By Generic people page
Base metals Copper

The People’s Bank of China injected 700 billion yuan into the market through seven-day reverse repos at an interest rate of 2.4%, and conducted 200 billion yuan of 14-day reverse repos at an interest rate of 2.55%.

The commodity market was underpinned by the latest Chinese government stimulus.

Nickel led the gain on Tuesday morning, with its most-traded April contract ending the session 1.66% higher, at 106,180 yuan ($15,219) per tonne, in comparison with Monday’s close of 104,450 yuan per tonne.

This was followed by June tin, March aluminium and April copper, each rising 0.87%, 0.58% and 0.42% respectively to 135,080 yuan per tonne, 13,795 yuan per tonne and 45,750 yuan per tonne.

March lead edged up by 0.25% to 14,045 yuan per tonne, while April zinc, the lone metal in negative territory this morning, ended the session 0.17% lower, at 17,125 yuan per tonne.

Other highlights

  • The dollar index, which gauges the strength of the US dollar against a basket of foreign currencies, was down by 0.001% at 12.20pm Shanghai time, at 98.86.
  • The Shanghai Composite Index was up by 0.33% at 2,900.14 as at 11.30am Shanghai time.
  • China’s consumer price index rose by 5.4% year on year for January, higher than an expected 4.9% increase, data released on Monday showed.
  • In the EU, Italian industrial production fell by 2.7% on a month-on-month basis in January.
  • On Tuesday, United States job opening data and the United Kingdom’s gross domestic product for December are due to be published.
  • Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell is scheduled to testify on the semi-annual Monetary Policy Report before the House Financial Services Committee, in Washington DC.
  • European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde is due to speak at the European Parliament on Tuesday.
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