Zinc gained more than 1% in morning trading on the London Metal Exchange on Thursday January 31, breaching technical support at its 100 DMA for the first time since July 2018 amid continued stock drawdowns and cancelations.
Volumes were decent at more than 5,000 lots as of 10:00am London time, just behind copper's 5,800 lots. Easing tightness in zinc's cash/three-month spread, which has narrowed to a backwardation of just $1.50 per tonne from its widest backwardation in more than 10 years at $124 per tonne in December, has spurred further buying. Fresh cancelations and stock drawdowns have been a theme across the complex. While more than 275,000 tonnes of aluminium left mostly LME-listed Malaysian warehouses over January, almost all of the LME's European zinc stock has disappeared after more than 34,000 tonnes was booked for removal from Rotterdam and Antwerp. Lead, nickel...