LIVE FUTURES REPORT 25/11: Fresh 50kt inflow fails to soften LME aluminium price; copper tops gains amid 36kt fresh cancelation

The three-month aluminium price on the London Metal Exchange consolidated during morning trading on Monday November 25, while a fresh inflow of 50,950 tonnes did little to move the metal’s stagnant price.

Aluminium’s outright price was recently seen at $1,738 per tonne, a dollar shy of Friday’s closing price of $1,739 per tonne, while just over 1,500 lots were exchanged as of 9:05am London time. 

This morning’s fresh inflow of 50,950 tonnes was entirely delivered into LME-registered warehouses in Asia, with 29,275 tonnes sent into Port Klang, 15,650 tonnes into Johor and 5,725 tonnes into Singapore. 

This takes aluminium’s total LME on-warrant inventory to back over the 1-million-tonne mark, while cancelled stock now sit just over 178,000 tonnes, or a bit over 16%. 

“Last week finished with small rallies on the metals, which could reasonably be put down to no more than covering by short term traders,” Kingdom Futures director and chief executive Malcolm Freeman said in a morning note. 

“Over the weekend there was some game play on the use of words in the China USA trade talks but the reality is little is happening,” he added. 

Elsewhere in the complex, the three-month copper price was higher over the morning, recently trading at $5,913 per tonne and breaching nearby resistance levels. 

Prompting the move higher, a fresh cancelation of 36,975 tonnes was booked out of Rotterdam and Chicago, taking LME copper’s on-warrant stocks to 127,850 tonnes.

Other highlights

  • Nickel’s three-month futures price topped losses over the morning, falling by 1.3% to trade at $14,450 per tonne. Forward spreads remain positive, with the metal’s benchmark cash/three-month spread recently trading in a $40.50 per tonne contango. 
  • In other commodities, Brent crude oil futures fell by 0.24% this morning, recently trading at $63.40 per barrel. 
  • In EU data released this morning, the German Ifo business climate index for the October-November period topped expectations at a reading of 95, up from the previous reading of 94.7. 
  • Later, China will release figures on its Conference Board economic index, a key indicator of economic health, with the reading expected at 1.1%.