LME aluminium dropped slightly on rising greenback; SHFE to trade strong before the Labour Day holidays

The greenback on Thursday hit a high of 98.337 against a basket of key rivals, the highest since May 16, 2017. LME base metals closed mixed on Thursday after the US dollar refreshed its highs. LME aluminium dropped 0.7% and SHFE aluminium edged down 0.04%.

Three-month LME aluminium came off from earlier highs to close at US$1,858.5 per tonne on Thursday, down 0.69% on the day. Thursday’s declines in LME aluminium was mainly attributed to the build-up of short position. It is expected to trade between US$1,850-1,880 per tonne today.

As on April 25, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stood at US$ 1850 per tonne, LME official settlement price stands at US$ 1852 per tonne; 3-months bid price stands at US$ 1861per tonne, 3-months offer price is US$ 1862 per tonne; Dec 20 bid price stands at US$ 1987 per tonne, and Dec 20 offer price stands at US$ 1992 per tonne.  

The LME aluminium opening stock stood at 1027800 tonnes. Live Warrants totalled at 644600 tonnes, and Cancelled Warrants were 383200 tonnes.

LME aluminium 3-months Asian Reference Price is hovering at US$ 1873 per tonne.

SME and SHFE Aluminium Price Trend

The benchmark aluminium price on Shanghai Metal Exchange dropped to US$ 2110 per tonne today from US$ 2116 per tonne on April 24. 

Lower inventories of primary aluminium bolstered the most-active SHFE June contract, as it climbed to a high of RMB 14,270 per tonne and ended at RMB 14,240 per tonne. The SHFE June contract then traded in a narrow range to close marginally lower at RMB 14,220 per tonne overnight, still hanging on above all short-term moving averages. As the greenback remained robust this morning, SHFE aluminium is expected to trade at RMB 14,150-14,250 per tonne today with spot discount of up to RMB 40 per tonne. The contract is likely to trade robustly before the Labour Day holiday.