Wednesday’s (negative) tone was set by nickel, which saw some heavy technical selling after a 1,400t net rise in LME stocks had put the skids under the market. The rest of the complex had a dull routine day by comparison, with aluminium slipping to 2818 before we signed off, where it held for a number of hours. Still stuck in the same boring old range, the light metal had been sold aggressively on Wednesday and spent yesterday in the doldrums with a late morning visit to 2842 snuffed out in the afternoon. Prices finally bottomed at 2810 in the pm sessions, reaffirming support sub-2800.
A one-dollar backwardation remained in Jun20-26, though elsewhere within C-3m the contango lengthened. Forward rates were generally slacker by $0.50-$1.00/mth. Notable was the (re-) emergence of a second long in the LME’s WC warrant banding report, with one party at 30-40% and another at 50-80%.
On Thursday morning aluminium continued to trade between 2810-2830, with news of power/production glitches at BHP Billiton’s African smelters having no impact on prices. Volumes were no better than 800 lots currently, last trading at 2825.
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