MI Comment: Aluminium tests support on macro jitters

Jitters in the wider financial world continued to pressure the base metals complex on Wednesday with equities indices and precious metals all suffering losses, though oil values improved. Aluminium slid lower with the others, coming off from 2828 at the start of trading all the way to 2766 at the end of the day, coming to a halt just where the 200- and 30-day moving averages were located. A stronger yen gave regional buyers there improved purchasing power and while locals did note consumer interest at lower levels, a falling euro kept buyers closer to home fairly quiet. Nearby spread movement remained very marginal with the C-3m contango easing overall, while forward backwardations slipped by $0.50-$1.00/mth mostly. The exception was Dec'08-Jun'09, which eased from 65.00b to 49.50b. So far on Thursday morning trading had been lively with 370 lots having changed hands ahead of the London opening. In the early hours prices picked up to a high of 2788, though the 100-day moving average provided resistance there. At time of writing they had come off, bottoming at 2762 currently, testing the 200- and 30-day MAs hereabouts, while volumes via Select had ticked up to 1,700 lots by 09:30hrs. In their daily report as at cob last night, Cliff Green Consultancy put support in the 2760/70 band with a break below there signalling falls towards 2710/20.