SMM Evening Comments (Jan 2)

SHANGHAI, Jan 2 (SMM)? 1/4 ? Nonferrous metals were mixed on the first trading day of 2018 with nickel outperforming others with a 2% rise. Zinc and tin rose around 1% while lead dropped 0.73% and copper dropped 0.63%.

On the other hand, iron ore led the ferrous complex with a 2.6% gain. Rebar, coking coal and hot-rolled coil all rose some 2%, while coke was up over 1%.

Copper: Copper saw the technical downward corrections today but we expect such decline is limited. US Markit manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for December is likely to give guidance to the market tonght.

Aluminium: Aluminium ingots inventory has set historic new high. The price is expected to have limited upward momentum. Short-selling at high price with small positions is recommended.

Lead: Lead recorded a long lower shadow and traded among 4 moving averages today. It is expected to test support strength at below 19,000 yuan/mt tonight.

Zinc: The SHFE zinc contract was volatile today while the overall sentiment remained bullish. However, increasing inventory level is something to watch as the market enters the traditional off season. It is expected to follow LME and stay firm tonight.

Nickel: SHFE nickel price is expected to trade higher tonight with little news on the macro level.

Tin: The tin contract on the SHFE is set to test the 150,000 yuan/mt level as it broke all moving averages. We see tin to stay firm in the near term.  

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