LME aluminium closed the last week lower at US$1864/t; SHFE reopens higher after Qingming holiday

The US dollar index rose on Friday after the US government said that job creation was stronger than expected in March, but wages grew at a sluggish pace. LME base metals traded lower on Friday. LME aluminium dropped 1.4% while SHFE aluminium edged up.  The Shanghai Futures Exchange closed from Thursday night to Friday night for the Qingming Festival.

After it rose to an intraday high of US$1,915 per tonne, three-month LME aluminium dropped past all moving averages to an intraday low of US$1,880 per tonne and ended at US$1,882.5 per tonne on Friday, down 1.4% on the day. LME cash contract ended the day at US$1864 per tonne In the face of a strong US dollar, LME aluminium is expected to hold firm with technical support. It is expected to trade at US$1,880-1,900 per tonne today.

As on April 5, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stood at US$ 1863 per tonne, LME official settlement price stands at US$ 1864 per tonne; 3-months bid price stands at US$ 1886 per tonne, 3-months offer price is US$ 1886.50 per tonne; Dec 20 bid price stands at US$ 2012 per tonne, and Dec 20 offer price stands at US$ 2017 per tonne.

The LME aluminium opening stock dropped to 1104525 tonnes. Live Warrants totalled at 730200 tonnes, and Cancelled Warrants were 374325 tonnes.

LME aluminium 3-months Asian Reference Price is hovering at US$ 1911 per tonne.

SME and SHFE Aluminium Price Trend

The benchmark aluminium price on Shanghai Metal Exchange stayed almost flat in last one week and increased slightly from US$2055 per tonne on April 4 to US$ 2057 per tonne today.

The most-liquid SHFE May contract climbed to an intraday high of RMB13,845 per tonne on Thursday after SMM data showed that China’s social inventories of primary aluminium lost 37,000 tonnes on the week. The contract returned to the daily moving average and ended at RMB13,805 per tonne. Following developments in US-China trade talks, the most traded SHFE aluminium contract is expected to trade at RMB13,750-13,850 per tonne today. Spot premiums are seen up to RMB 30 per tonne.

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