MI aluminium stocks analysis: LME edges higher, NYMEX under pressure

It didn't take much in the way of a pick-up in arrivals to halt the mini downtrend that was developing in LME-registered stocks of aluminium.

That's because draws remain highly modest and after a day of low cancellations and a resulting slip in the ratio of cancelled tonnage to 2.8% no imminent change seems to be on the horizon.

While the LME headline figure footles around above the 800,000t mark, NYMEX stocks remain under pressure. Wednesday brought no more attrition of warranted stocks—already down by 10,787 tons so far this year at 12,788 tons (11,601 metric)—but there was a big fall in the off-warrant category at Maceo.

The number of pieces of aluminium at Maceo in the off-warrant category slumped by 18,606 to just 566. Total off-warrant stocks now total 70,433 pieces, down by 64,265 since the start of January.