The three-month price of lead on the London Metal Exchange stood out as the most notable underperformer at the close of trading on Wednesday January 29, selling off more than 3% of its outright price to close at its lowest level since June 2019, while copper continued to struggle over the afternoon.
Lead's underlying price on the LME closed at $1,832 per tonne on Wednesday afternoon, falling from an intraday high of $1,903 per tonne, while turnover was moderate at just over 5,000 lots exchanged by the close.Despite fresh cancelations of more than 10,000 tonnes this month, some market participants dealing in LME lead reported to Fastmarkets that recent removals were unlikely to have been due to physical demand.The bulk of lead in LME-registered warehouses remains of 99.97% quality, but many end-users prefer higher quality 99.99% material.Lead's benchmark cash/three-month spread was recently seen in a backwardation of $0.75 per...