MI aluminium stocks analysis: Shanghai creeping higher

Stocks registered with the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) rose by 4,802t to 36,231t in the week to Thursday. It was the fourth consecutive weekly rise and the headline figure is now showing a year-to-date net increase of 17,649t. However, as the chart shows, Shanghai stocks are still relatively low, both by historical standards and by the spike up to 100,00t seen around the Lunar New Year holidays earlier this year. LME stocks activity was muted Thursday with inflow dropping a gear thanks to the cessation of warranting activity at Johor in Malaysia. Draws were steady but cancellations were once again extremely low and the ratio of cancelled tonnage has sunk to 2.4%. Even without fresh arrivals, the headline figure is not going to run away on the downside any time soon.