By the time we signed off on Tuesday aluminium had already posted a 2609-2550 trading range and this proved to be just about the range for the day. Weaker oil and gold had suppressed the metals complex in early trading, though later as crude improved and zinc saw fresh (trade-based) buying, the rest of the LME metals also lifted. Aluminium drew some short-covering in the pm sessions as thin markets with many traders traveling home presented an opportunity for shenanigans in nearby spreads. In the mean time, 3-months mustered a kerb high of 2610, slipping $10 in a quiet aftermarket.
As we noted yesterday, following moves to tighten dates in December -- with one of the market’s ‘big names’ said to have assembled a dominant long there – now it was Oct-Nov and also Nov-Dec that were firming up. Having shrunk by $4.00 the previous day, the Oct-Nov contango lost another $5.00 on Tuesday to 7.00c, while Nov-Dec was in at 8.00c from 11.50c; both remaining linear. There were no great shakes in the forward structure with 2007 and 2008 marginally better-bid, while the only ‘mover’ was Nov-Dec ’08, valued out at 18.00b from 14.50b.
Volumes remained scarce on Thursday morning with turnover via Select just nudging into 4 digits at time of writing. 3-months had reopened c. 2600 and rallied to 2625 after a healthy draw on LME stocks, though from there on things quietened down again and prices slid back to 2590 currently.
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