Posted on 18 Sep 2023
Encouraged by some improved economic data, sentiment in Chinese commodity markets including those of nonferrous metals lifted during the week of September 11-15, with the most-traded copper and aluminum futures contracts on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) both gaining on week, Mysteel Global notes.
As of Friday, the SHFE's most-traded futures contracts for copper and aluminum for October delivery rose by Yuan 940/tonne ($129.3/t) and Yuan 275/t respectively on week to close the daytime session at Yuan 69,780/t and Yuan 19,335/t, according to the exchange's data.
Data released by China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) earlier had indicated that the recent stimulus policies announced by the central government for economic recovery may have started to have an impact, market sources noted.
The NBS numbers showed that China's total value added among industrial enterprises above a designated size had increased by 4.5% on year in August, accelerating from the 3.7% pace seen in July. Also, total retail sales of consumer goods last month had increased at the faster on-year pace of 4.6%, as against the 2.5% rise in July, the NBS data showed.
But while SHFE players were evidently hopeful about future demand for aluminum and copper during the week, they seemed less interested in the future of nickel – possibly because nickel smelters are incurring business losses and downstream demand for the metal remains feeble, sources added.
On Friday, the most-traded October nickel contract slumped by Yuan 4,040/t from the previous Friday's settlement price to close at Yuan 162,800/t, SHFE data showed.
By the same day, inventories of nickel in the SHFE's registered bonded and normal warehouses had climbed higher on week, swelling by 587 tonnes to 5,555 tonnes.
In parallel, copper and aluminum stocks also jumped on week, with the former rising by 10,191 tonnes to reach 65,146 tonnes, and the latter up by 16,225 tonnes to sit at 104,670 tonnes, according to the SHFE data.
Source:Mysteel Global
