LME aluminium benchmark price recovers to US$3380.5/t; SHFE grows 3% toUS$3637/t

Three-month LME aluminium opened at US$3,380 per tonne last Friday and closed at US$3,388 per tonne, an increase of US$5 per tonne or 0.15 per cent.

On Friday, March 18, LME aluminium cash bid price and LME aluminium official settlement price recovered by US$92 per tonne and US$92.50 per tonne to close the week at US$3,379.50 per tonne and US$3,380.50 per tonne. 3-month bid price and 3-month offer price increased by US$84 per tonne and US$83 per tonne, respectively, to come in at US$3,399 per tonne and US$3,400 per tonne. On the same day, December 23 bid price and December 23 offer price stood at US$3,192 per tonne and US$3,197 per tonne, which also registered a hike of US$82 per tonne from US$3,110 per tonne and US$3,115 per tonne, respectively.

LME aluminium opening stock continued to decrease from 724700 tonnes to 715225 tonnes as of March 18. Live warrants and Cancelled warrants totalled 465175 tonnes and 250050 tonnes.

LME aluminium 3-month Asian Reference Price climbed up by 4.52 per cent to record at US$3,446.59 per tonne.

SHFE aluminium price    

On Monday, March 21, the benchmark aluminium price for SHFE has hiked by US$97 per tonne or 2.74 per cent to stand at US$3,637 per tonne, marking the fourth consecutive day of growth.

The most-traded SHFE 2205 aluminium closed up 3.26 per cent or RMB 720 per tonne to peg at RMB 22,830 per tonne, with open interest up 34,350 lots to 216,466 lots.

During last Friday’s night session, the most-traded SHFE 2205 aluminium contract opened at RMB 22,720 per tonne, with the highest and lowest prices at RMB 22,975 per tonne and RMB 22,700 per tonne before closing at RMB 22,935 per tonne, up RMB 345 per tonne or 1.53 per cent.