Aluminium futures in China rose for a fifth straight session on Tuesday, buoyed by falling inventories and production cuts amid soaring power prices in Europe.
The most-traded February aluminium contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange was up 2.4 percent at 21,580 yuan ($3,386.80) a tonne. Prices earlier rose to 21,600 yuan, a peak since October 26.
Data last week showed inventories in warehouses monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange were at 314,859 tonnes, its lowest level since November 2021.
Stocks of aluminium in LME-registered warehouses were last at 911,500 tonnes, down more than 50 percent since hitting a 1.96 million tonne high in March last year.
A surge in power and natural gas costs across Europe has led to output reductions at smelters, with an aluminium smelter in Dunkirk, France being the latest to announce an output cut.
FUNDAMENTALS
* ShFE copper eased 0.1 percent to 69,670 yuan a tonne, while nickel gained 2.1 percent to 156,920 yuan, zinc was up 0.2 percent at 24,295 yuan, lead edged 0.2 percent higher to 15,220 yuan and tin rose 0.2 percent to 298,890 yuan.
* Indonesia allowed 14 vessels loaded with coal to depart as soon as they secure verifications from mining and transport authorities, a senior minister said on Monday, easing an export ban by the world’s top thermal coal exporter.
* Some of Wall Street’s biggest banks now expect four US interest increases this year starting in March, a more aggressive call than a week ago.
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MARKETS NEWS
* The US dollar hovered near the middle of its recent range against major peers as traders looked to incumbent Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s nomination hearing later in the day for new clues on the timing and pace of policy normalisation.
* Asian equities and the dollar struggled to find direction, with attention squarely on the timing and pace of US monetary policy normalisation.
($1 = 6.3718 Chinese yuan)
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Category: China
