LIVE FUTURES REPORT 29/12: SHFE aluminium price up, copper falls back

The most-traded SHFE February aluminium contract price increased 70 yuan, or 0.5%, to 15,190 yuan ($2,332) per tonne as of 10:00am Shanghai time, following in the steps of LME aluminium prices.

LME Aluminium prices continue to break fresh 2017 highs – hitting $2,282.50 per tonne today and closing 1% higher than the previous day’s close.

“Although we are quietly bullish on the fundamentals for 2018 and expect prices to range trade in high ground, the strong upward momentum and lead from copper and aluminium suggests prices may run ahead of the fundamentals again,” William Adams, Metal Bulletin senior analyst said.

“Environmental protection policies are still helping to support the aluminium price, especially in Shandong province,” according to Galaxy Futures.

Earlier this week, a report published on the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) website said that aluminium capacity in Binzhou and Liaocheng city in Shandong province have been largely above the settled target.

The Liaocheng government will make a more detailed plan on possible additional  environmental protection measures, according to an announcement published in the Shandong MEP website on Thursday.

The most-traded February SHFE copper contract stood at 55,630 yuan per tonne as of 10.00am Shanghai time, down 0.3%, or 140 yuan per tonne, and the LME three-month copper price fell $5 per tonne to $7,284 per tonne, adjusting from the previous day’s gains. However, it had hit $7,312.50 per tonne earlier in the day – the highest since January 2014.

Zinc and lead down, nickel and tin up

• The SHFE February zinc contract price was down 25 yuan per tonne, or 0.1%, to 25,685 yuan per tonne.
• “Although the high zinc price encourages smelters to sell, demand from traders and end-users seems to be a little weak in the year-end period,” said a Shanghai trader.
• The SHFE February lead contract price fell 75 yuan per tonne to 19,175 yuan per tonne, down 0.4% compared with its previous closing price.
• The SHFE May nickel contract price increased 360 yuan, or 0.2%, to 97,170 yuan per tonne.
• The SHFE May tin contract price gained 240 yuan, or 0.2%, to 144,630 yuan per tonne.

Currency moves and data releases 

• The dollar index was down by 0.07% at 92.60 as of 10:58am Shanghai time.
• In other commodities, the Brent crude oil spot price was up 0.31% at $66.48 per barrel while the Texas light sweet crude oil spot price inched up 0.34% to $60.16.
• In equities, the Shanghai Composite was up 0.19% to 3,302.28.
• In data, US weekly unemployment claims were higher than the forecast for December at 245,000, while goods trade balanced data was level with expectations and preliminary wholesale inventories for November were recorded at 0.7%, up from the 0.4% forecast.
• In data today, EU M3 money supply and private loan figures are due out.